Until Silence Falls
by The Prickly Pear
Summary: Watching the Doctor walk away from his granddaughter's wedding, Wilfred Mott realized that he couldn't let the most wonderful man he's ever met die alone. AU from Season 5 on.
1. Making Do

_**Title:**_

_Until Silence Falls_

_**Author:**_

_The Prickly Pear_

_**Genre:**_

_Adventure / Friendship_

_**Rating:**_

_T_

_**Summary:**_

_Watching the Doctor walk away from his granddaughter's wedding, Wilfred Mott realized that he couldn't let the most wonderful man he's ever met die alone. AU from season 5 on. _

_**Author's Note:**_

_This is an idea I've been toying with for a while now, ever since I watched season 5 (which is more recently than I care to admit, I'm tragically late to the Doctor Who party, and still rather new to it…) It follows the events of the series which is part of the reason I didn't write it before now; I was afraid of simply retelling what we all saw on screen and boring you all to death. But then I started reading AshRain114's brilliant series (if you haven't read it, look it up) and I realized that maybe I could do this well enough that it would make me happy! So, here's the result. Yes, it follows the show, (for the first while at least) and yes that means a lot of the dialogue comes straight from the script but I promise there is a plot and there will be at least as much original content as script so please, give it a try!_

_The plot itself comes from my initial ideas (well, I say ideas, what I really mean are 'hopes') about the fifth season and a conversation I had with friend about the Doctor's regenerations. We were discussing the idea that the Ninth Doctor regenerated into the Tenth in a subconscious effort to make himself more desirable to Rose and it occurred to me that the same thing could be said about his regeneration from his Tenth to Eleventh forms if you consider that his last 'companion' was a man he was coming to see as a father figure and the Eleventh Doctor is the youngest and most child-like yet. Just my thoughts on the matter. _

_On a personal note, I'm a notoriously slow updater. I will try to get one new chapter up a week, probably on Saturday, but that may not always happen. If I know that the wait will be longer than a week, I will be sure let you know. _

_Anyway, you're not here to listen to me ramble so let's get on with it!_

_**Disclaimer:**_

_All characters you recognize are the property Doctor Who rightful owners. __This fanfiction is written solely for my amusement, no money has been made whatsoever._

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

**_Chapter One_**

_Making Do  
_

When The Doctor appeared at Donna's wedding, still the same man and looking as healthy as anyone who had recently been exposed to massive amounts of radiation could be expected to, Wilfred honestly believed that everything was going to be alright. Maybe the radiation hadn't been as deadly as the Time Lord had thought or maybe he'd just got lucky but whatever the reason The Doctor was alive and the old human told him as much. They could move forward now, find a way to bring Donna's memory back safely, help The Doctor overcome what had obviously been a terrible experience for him and maybe, just maybe, he could stand amongst the stars one more time. He was so excited that he just couldn't stop talking, about the Naismiths, about the mysterious woman who'd spoken to him, about everything.

The Doctor (true to form) deflected the flurry of questions and information with a wedding gift bought with the pocket change of his late son-in-law. It was enough to push Sylvia to the brink of tears, with her father not far behind, and send them both back in Donna's direction with the present in hand and only the slightest inkling that they were doing precisely what the alien wanted.

"Oh, don't tell me, it's a bill. Just what I need, right now," the redhead grumbled loudly, accepting the gift with her trademark briskness and ripping it open, "A lottery ticket? What a cheap present. Who was that? Still, you never know. It's a triple rollover this week. I might get lucky." She began to walk away, tucking the ticket into the neck of her dress. "Oi, Shaun! Come on, we're on a tight schedule. Oxtail soup at two thirty…"

Wilfred and Sylvia exchanged looks of pure excitement, joining hands and jumping slightly because when a time traveler gives you a lottery ticket... But the excitement was short lived for as he turned back to see the Doctor off one last time, the old human got a good look at the pain on the alien's face and felt his gut freeze from the inside out. He'd been wrong. He'd been so very wrong. The Doctor really was going to die…

But not alone.

He was moving before he had a chance to process anything else, running (something he seemed to do a lot of around the Time Lord) across the lawn and towards the TARDIS as the wheezing, groaning sound of dematerialization reached his ears. He reached the door in what he gauged to be the nick of time, his hands making contact with the wooden panels in an attempt to stop his forward momentum. "Doctor!" he shouted as he pounded on the door for good measure, "Doc – "

Without warning the door swung open of its own accord and Wilfred all but fell into the ship. Righting himself with as much dignity as he could while still managing to avoid being struck by the door as it snapped shut behind him, the elderly man looked around, searching the console room for any sign of the Time Lord. What he saw made his heart sink even further than he'd ever thought possible; the Doctor was curled in a trembling ball against the base of the ship's console with his knees pulled up to his chest and his forehead pressed against them. Somewhere in the back of Wilf's mind it occurred to him that there was no way the alien was in any fit state to have allowed him entry, but he pushed the thought aside as something to be addressed another time and focused instead on his fallen friend.

The TARDIS gave a few violent jolts, her rough flight nearly knocking Wilfred off his feet as he made his way forward and crouched down next to the crumpled form despite his joints' protests. Without a word he reached out and pulled the Time Lord towards him gently, trying to convey silently that he was not alone. Not this time. Not anymore.

The moment he fell into the embrace, however, the Doctor's eyes flew opened and he scrambled away, using the console to haul himself to his feet despite the fact that his legs looked ready to give out on him. "Wilfred," he stared at the human with wide eyes, fighting visibly to get himself back under control, "What are you doing here? You can't be here! How did you even –"

"I'm not leavin'," said Wilf firmly, effective cutting the Time Lord off even as he followed his lead and clambered back to his feet, "I'm not leavin' you like this."

"I'm fine," came the expected protest.

The old human shook his head sadly. "You're dying, Doctor," he sighed, "And I'll be damned if I let you die alone."

They stared at each other for a long moment, the Doctor leaning against the console as discreetly as he could, until, quite suddenly, the TARDIS ceased all movement. Wherever the ship had been headed, they had arrived.

"Well go on then, where are we now?" Wilfred asked, forcing a smile he did not feel in the hope that it would get his friend talking.

But it was the alien's turn to shake his head as he reached out to touch his ship's controls gently, "What are you up to, Old Girl," he murmured softly, clenching his eyes shut as a wave of pain passed visibly through him before opening them once more with such forced energy that Wilf almost believed it. "Can't go looking right now, though. Gotta get Wilf home. It's his granddaughter's reception party, can't miss that. Donna will be at him about it for years..."

But enough was enough. As true as the statement about Donna was, Wilfred knew that he could handle her nagging if it meant that this man, this great, lonely man, got to die in the company of someone who cared about him. Turning on his heal he marched over to the TARDIS door, pulled it open and stepped outside. "C'mon Doctor, where are we? When are we? It's snowing…"

He made out the sound of a frustrated whimper from within the time machine before the Time Lord appeared behind him looking desperate. "Wilf, please…" he all but pleaded, his voice tapering off.

The old human turned around with every intention of arguing his case once more only to find that dying man's attention was not on him at all. Following his gaze Wilf's eyes fell upon two women, both blond and one oddly familiar, approaching from down the street.

"Rose…" the Doctor murmured.

"Rose? Rose Tyler?" No wonder he recognized one of them then, people met during a Dalek invasion weren't the sort of people who were easily forgotten.

But the Time Lord didn't respond. Instead he stumbled away from the shadow of his ship and limped across the street without either of the women seeing. Wilf considered following but Rose and the other woman were still approaching and he knew there was no way he'd make it unseen so he backed further into the shadows and watched the scene unfold from there.

"I'm late now," Rose was saying as they passed the TARDIS, "I've missed it. It's midnight. Mickey's going to be calling me everything. This is your fault."

"No, it's not. It's Jimbo. He said he was going to give us a lift, then he said his axle broke. I can't help it," the older woman replied defensively.

"Get rid of him, Mum. He's useless."

Mum? So this was Rose Tyler's mother, well, Wilf supposed, that did make sense. He stepped out of the shadows now that the women had passed and squinted until he managed to make out the Doctor hidden in the darkness around a corner further down the street. How he'd managed to make it that far in his condition, Wilf had no idea, but the two Tylers were still talking and their conversation drove that thought from his mind.

"Listen to you, with a mechanic," said the older woman indignantly, before continuing more softly, "Be fair, though. My time of life I'm not going to do much better."

The two women came to a stop and Rose reached out to grip her mother's shoulder and brush away a few stray pieces of hair. "Don't be like that," she said reassuringly, "You never know. There could be someone out there."

"Maybe, one day," Mrs. Tyler paused for a moment before giving her daughter a smile, "Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year!" Rose replied, as the two shared a hug then broke apart. "Don't stay out all night."

"Try and stop me," came the reply as her mother walked off.

Rose herself headed off in the opposite direction, hunched against the cold until something made her stop and turn towards the spot where Wilf knew the Doctor was hidden. He strained his ears and risked moving closer to the pair, trying to make out what she was saying.

"You all right, mate?" the girl asked.

The Doctor's head snapped up at the sound of her voice, "Yeah," he replied but even from where he was standing Wilf could hear the pain in his voice.

The young blond evidently heard it too, but seemed to interpret it differently. "Too much to drink?"

"Something like that," the Time Lord grimace.

"Maybe it's time you went home."

"Yeah…"

Rose offered him a bright smile. "Anyway, Happy New Year."

"And you," said the Doctor softly as Rose turned to walk away. Suddenly a thought seemed to occur to him. "What year is this?" he called after her.

Rose spun back around, laughing. "Blimey, how much have you had? 2005, January the first."

"2005," the Time Lord's voice was thick with some indistinguishable emotion, "Tell you what. I bet you're going to have a really great year."

"Yeah?" said Rose curiously before offering the weaken man another bright smile, "See you." And with that she ran off, disappearing into a nearby building.

The moment the girl made her way out of sight Wilf hurried towards the alien, ignoring the biting cold, and caught him by the elbow as he swayed unsteadily. "Whoa ho, I gotcha," he said softly, "C'mon now, let's get you inside…"

"She'll have great year," the Time Lord murmured, allowing himself to be supported towards the old Police Box without complaint, "She'll have a great year…"

The old human didn't reply, focusing instead on keeping them both upright as they continued forward slowly despite the fact that his charge had begun shaking uncontrollably. By the time they reached the ship the Doctor was shaking worse than ever. Wilf helped him slowly towards the center console of the TARDIS, allowing the machine to take some of her pilot's weight as they leaned up against it. Looking the Time Lord over critically, the old human noted a distinct golden glow he'd never seen before colouring the unnaturally pale skin. "It's time, isn't it?" he asked softly, his heart breaking slightly as the Doctor bit back another cry of pain and nodded, "Alright," he continued in as calm a voice as he could manage, "It'll be alright. Is there anything I can do to help? Anything you need?"

A strangled sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, escaped the Time Lord. "Nope," he replied, his voice shaking roughly as he fought to bring his emotions under control, "Not a thing. Well, I wouldn't mind a banana, bananas are good –"

And Wilfred's heart broke yet again as the Doctor's voice did the same. "Oh, Doctor…" he murmured, reaching out with the intention of gripping the trembling shoulder before him but the alien turned away, his head bowed and eyes squeezed shut though whether out of physical of emotions distress Wilf couldn't be sure.

They stood like that for a moment, neither man making any attempt to move and the occasional catch of the Doctor's breath the only sound, until at long last the Time Lord spoke. "I don't want to go," he whispered in a voice so full of desperation that it gave Wilfred chills and he knew, somehow, just as he always had with Sylvia and Donna, what he had to do.

He took a breath and pushed the chills aside. "Doctor, look at me."

But the Doctor remained facing stubbornly the other way.

Unfazed, the old human reached out once more and rested his hand on the suit-clad shoulder from behind. "Look at me, son," he repeated firmly and finally his words, along with the gentle pressure of his hand, brought about the desired response as the Time Lord turned slowly to face him and the reason for his reluctance became clear. Unshed tears glistened in his big, dark eyes and Wilfred was reminded vividly of the first time he'd seen the alien so vulnerable, sitting across from him over a cup of tea.

"Wilf, I'm sor –" the Doctor began shakily, but Wilfred held up the hand which was not resting on his friend's shoulder, effectively cutting him off.

"No," he said simply, the firm, gently authoritative voice he'd perfected with his girls still in place, "Don't. You have nothing to apologize for because I don't want you to go either. But you know what, Doctor?" he gave the Doctor's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "We'll make do, we'll make do…"

Letting out a long breath the Doctor nodded and squared his shoulders despite the pain which flitted across his face in an attempt to gather himself together. "Right… Making do…" He released another slow breath, moving away from Wilf stiffly as his hands set to work adjusting the many levers and buttons that made up the TARDIS's controls.

"Doctor?" Wilfred asked kindly, confused and a bit concerned by the alien's sudden rush of, admittedly slow and painful, movement.

"The Time Vortex," came the clipped reply, something the old human attributed to the pain his friend was in, "I want to… I need to do this in the Time Vortex."

Wilf was reminded suddenly of an animal seeking out some shred of quiet and safety and home in which to die but he kept the thought to himself and instead put on his most reassuring smile as the TARDIS began to pulse gently around them. But even that was not enough to chase the look of terror from the Doctor's face as he stepped away from the console for the last time, his hands and face beginning to give off an eerie golden glow. What happened next the old human would not have believed had he not been there to see it for himself. His friend exploded. There was no other way to describe it, his arms were flung out wide while golden light ripped from his flesh and he screamed.

Fire exploded all around the ship's interior, rocking the TARDIS worse than ever and nearly knocking Wilfred off his feet. Bits of debris fell from above and he only just staggered out of the way as the shattered remnants of one of the coral structures came crashing down all too near where he'd been standing seconds before. And then, without warning, the screaming stopped, the golden light faded away and there, standing among the still-burning fires, was a new man.

He looked young, younger than he had before, with a floppy mess of dark hair and an angular face which at the moment betrayed nothing but confusion as he spun around, wide-eyed and finally seemed to focus on himself. "Legs. I've still got legs." He grabbed one leg and kissed it before moving on, his hands grabbing at each body part mentioned. "Good. Arms. Hands. Ooo, fingers. Lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair. I'm a girl! No." He froze for a moment looking horrified with his hands still tangled in his disheveled locks before grabbing hurriedly at his Adam's apple. "No. I'm not a girl." He looked relieved before grabbing at his hair once more and pulling a few tufts into view. "And still not ginger. And something else. Something important…"

The TARDIS gave a particularly violent lurch which snapped Wilfred's gaze away from the stranger before him and had him seizing the nearest still-standing coral structure to keep from joining the piles of rubble on the floor. "Doctor!" he shouted, and despite the fires and violent tremors rocking the ship still felt a slight jolt of surprise when the younger man's head turned towards him in response to the name.

"Wilf! Look, Wilf's here! No, wait, that's not it…"

"We're crashing, Doctor!"

"Ah ha! Right! Yes, that's it! We're crashing!" He let out what Wilf considered to be a slightly manic laugh and launched himself towards the TARDIS's control panel, flicking switches and pulling levers even as they continued to plummet out of control. "GERONIMO!"


	2. Freefall

_**Author's Note:**_

_Hey, would you look at that, an early update! I managed to spit out a chapter in one day today (not this one, I'm a bit further ahead but I intend to keep it that way so the updates don't dry up) which is a huge deal for me so I thought I'd celebrate with a nice post. So, here you go! This chapter's pretty short but it sets up for the action to come._

_**Happy Reading!**_

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_**Chapter Two**_

_Freefall_

Wilf would be the first to admit that he was still more than a little fuzzy on the topic of regeneration, his only explanation coming from a miserable, frightened Doctor, but even so he could make a few observations for himself. First and foremost this new, younger-looking, version of the Doctor was far clumsier than the last.

"It's alright, Wilf, no need to panic!" the new Doctor shouted against the wind whipping in and around his ship.

The old human rolled his eyes, lowering himself slowly to his knees and reaching out the TARDIS's open door towards the Time Lord dangling there. "'Course not, Doctor, now take my hand!"

But the Doctor wasn't paying attention. He was spinning wildly, his fingers struggling to keep their grip on his ship's floor as the TARDIS spun and rolled out of control. "Uh oh…" he said suddenly, his voice getting lost in the wind but the expression on his face unmistakable as he looked up from attempting to make out where they were going. "Wilfred!" he shouted, raising his voice above the noise, "Now, there's still no need to panic, but you need to pull the big lever on the console, preferably quickly!"

"No need to panic my arse," Wilf muttered, trying to ignore that very emotion as it prickled at the back of his mind. He heaved himself back to his feet, staggered across the room, and crashed painfully into the center control panel as the ship lurched violently. Clinging to the console he scanned the various buttons and levers in front of him before grabbing the biggest lever he could fine and giving it a pull.

The TARDIS gave an almighty lurch and rocketed upwards leaving the old human very grateful of the fact that he was already holding tight to the controls before him or he was sure his ride would have been far more unpleasant. As it was he managed to maintain his grip until the flight evened out and only then was he able to make his way back to the open door. "Doctor?" he called, lowering himself to his knees and leaning out into the wind with his hand outstretched once more, "C'mon, take my hand!"

He was met with an exhausted grin as the alien looked up at him before, at long last, reaching upwards with one hand until their figures met. Planting his feet and bracing himself against the doorframe, Wilf heaved with all his might and managed to haul the Doctor, with some difficulty, back into the TARDIS. The two men fell back against the wall, panting and sliding into sitting positions as the door slammed shut almost irritably behind them.

Closing his eyes, the Time Lord let out a breathless laugh. "You alright, Wilf?" he wheezed.

"Me?" the old human asked in disbelief, "You were the one hangin' out into the bloody Time Vortex."

"Not the Time Vortex," the Doctor corrected, opening his eyes and pushing his still unfamiliar hair out of his face, "We never made it that far. I meant to… Wanted to…" He fell silent, a frown creasing his face for a moment before jumping, somewhat unsteadily, back to his feet and rushing towards the console.

But as brief as it was the flash of sadness was enough to remind Wilf just who this stranger was. "What about you, Doctor, you doin' alright?"

"'Course I'm alright!" the Time Lord replied brightly, his back to Wilf as he scrambled around the central structure in a valiant attempt to get his ship under control, "I'm always alright!"

Wilf arched one eyebrow but chose to keep his doubts to himself and focused instead on clambering back to his feet. This endeavour was complicated, however, by the fact that the TARDIS had suddenly begun shaking so badly that it was nearly impossible to see straight. "Doctor!" he shouted, all but clinging to the wall to stay upright, "Doctor, what's happening?"

The Time Lord didn't react right away, continuing instead with his attempts to regain control of his ship, but after a brief moment he ceased his frantic dance around the console and turned to face his passenger with his hands clenched into nervous fists in front of his chest. He took one stumbling step forward, glanced back at the controls, then seemed to come to a decision. He launched himself unceremoniously across the TARDIS, careening off course a few times before using the wall to catch himself when he reached Wilf's side. "Right," he said, gripping the elderly man's shoulder just a little too tightly, "This may hurt a bit but you've got to keep hold of me."

"What are you – " But the old human never got the chance to finish his question. He'd known that they were crashing (the console room was on fire, how could they not be) but still the force of impact was more than he could ever have imagined. One second he was face to face with the Doctor and the next, well the next second the world went to hell.

The impact sent both men tumbling towards the floor but the contact never came, instead they just kept falling. The interior of the TARDIS seemed to be spinning of its own accord but Wilf had the sneaking suspicion that it was actually the gravity inside the ship changing direction every few seconds which was causing their freefall be bare a stronger resemblance to a pinball bouncing around its machine than two people falling. They careened here and there, the Doctor's hands gripping him so tightly now that a small part of his brain registered that he was likely going to have bruises from the treatment, the majority of his brain, however, realized that without the rough treatment they'd have surely been separated in the fall. They were falling through room after room, their uncontrolled path taking them through open doors or, more painfully, bouncing them off walls, floors or ceilings until they found an opening of some kind. A few times Wilf felt certain that gravity had simply flipped one hundred and eighty degrees and sent them tumbling back the way they'd come.

And then, quite suddenly, there came a splash and the Doctor's hands slipped from his shoulders for the first time since the ordeal began. Wilfred attempted to call out only to discover, in the most uncomfortable way possible, that he was completely underwater and felt panic begin to rise up inside him as he realized that because of the nature of their fall he had no idea which direction would take him to the surface. Forcing himself to think logically (something that was surprisingly difficult when the laws of gravity had just been shot to hell) he began paddling towards the brightest source of light he could find. Just as a lack of oxygen was beginning to cause him to panic in earnest his head broke the surface and he gulped greedily at the air. He treaded water for a moment, taking the time to acknowledge that everything seemed to have reset itself the right way up and he'd somehow found himself in a swimming pool which was surrounded by books of all things, when the world turned on its axis one more time, flipping ninety degrees to the right without warning.

Wilfred barely had time to register what had happened before the water was forcing him downwards. He struck what would have been, should have been, a wall were the laws of gravity being obeyed, hard and covered his head and neck with his hands as the contents of the pool and the bookcases around it pummelled him from above. At long last the barrage of water and books stopped and Wilf raised his head cautiously off the ground, noting as he did so a distinct red tinge in the water where it had been laying but as his whole body was tingling painfully he had no way of knowing exactly where the blood was coming from.

"Wilf!" the Doctor's voice range out suddenly, "Wilfred?"

Heaving himself painfully into a sitting position he looked around properly, searching for his alien companion amongst the countless puddles and shelving unites and water soaked books which covered what was now the floor. He spotted him, finally, hurrying around the room and searching under fallen tables and bookcases and other sorts of rubble in a horribly uncoordinated manner though whether that was due to an injury or if this new Doctor was just like that Wilf couldn't be sure. "I'm here, Doctor," he called, his voice sounding tired even to his own ears. Men of his age certainly weren't meant to take this kind of beating.

The Time Lord was bent down by his side in an instant, uncoordinated or not, Wilf realized, the man was fast. "You alright, Wilf? You're bleeding."

Sensing an opportunity, he elderly man smiled. "Aye, I'm alright, I'm always alright," he quoted, before grimacing, "I'm just a bit too old for that kind of fall, is all."

"I'm older than you," the Doctor pointed out, still studying the other man critically.

Wilfred chuckled softly. "In memory only," he teased, hoping to chase the worry off the alien's face, "I'm alright, Doctor, really. Just a bit banged up is all."

"Oi!" came the indignant reply, "I can be very mature... At least, I think I can. Don't really know yet. Whole new me." He grinned brightly and stood up again, his eyes travelling to the door which was now more of a skylight in the ceiling, "Now, what to do about that..."

"Someone'll have to climb up," Wilf rationalized, looking at the Doctor pointedly, "Unless, of course, this ship of yours isn't finished bouncing us around."

The Time Lord waved his hand carelessly. "Oh no, we've landed."

"Landed?"

But the Doctor ignored him, bounding off again to resume digging through the various piles of rubble. "C'mon, Old Girl, don't you fail me now! Ah ha!" He stood up suddenly, grinning happily and clutching a grappling hook attached to a length of rope in his hands.

Wilf nearly laughed out loud. "Really?" he asked, shaking his head, "Not only have ya got a swimming pool in your library but you keep a supply of grappling hooks too?"

"The TARDIS exists across all of time," the Doctor explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "She sees things that have happened, are happening and will happen in the future and she never, ever lets me down." He waved the grappling hook cheerfully, as if to prove his point. "Now, shall we get out of here?"

But the old human gave him a sad smile. "You go," he said calmly, "There's no way I'm climbin' up that thing, not like this." He gestured towards the blood on his face and the tattered state of his suit. Oh if Donna could see the suit now... He winced slightly.

The Time Lord, however, seemed to mistake the wince for one of pain and the look of concern returned to his face. "Wilf..." He glanced up at the door again, then back at his companion looking uncertain. "Alright," he said finally, "I'll go up, just to see where we are mind, then I'll be back. I'll be right back. Five minutes – "

"Doctor," Wilfred cut him off kindly, "I know. I trust you."

"Why aren't you bothered by me?"

The question came out of nowhere and was so unexpected that the old human actually stared at the alien in surprise for a moment before tilting his head. "Bothered?"

"By me. This me. The new me. Most people, they aren't quite alright with the change, they don't quite understand it," the Doctor rambled uncertainly, watching Wilf closely as though trying to gauge his reaction, "They want me to be the same, act the same, but I'm not and I can't..."

But Wilfred just smiled. Not only did this version of the Doctor look younger, he seemed to act it too. Insecurity wasn't something he was used to seeing in the Time Lord's demeanor. "You're happy," he said softly, shifting so he was sitting in a more comfortable position on the floor, "And maybe that wouldn't seem right to some, considering you just died and all, but after everything, Doctor, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You deserve it. So no, I'm not bothered by you, I'm proud of you."

The Doctor's grin was infectious. "I'll be right back," he assured once more.

"I know!" the old human laughed, "Now get out of here!"

The Time Lord offered him another massive grin before turning his attention back to the door above them and flinging the grappling hook upwards with all his might.


	3. Cops and Robbers

_**Author's Note:**_

_Well, it's Saturday so that means it's also Update Day! Now, this chapter is where the plot of The Eleventh Hour really comes into play so we'll be in script-vile for the next few chapters, still, I've tried to add as much original content as the story would allow. Let me know how I did!_

_Oh, and thank you all so much for the lovely reviews! You guys are awesome! Every time one pops up in my inbox I get the overwhelming desire to sit down and write which has been brilliant for keeping my muse going!_

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_**Chapter Three**_

_Cops and Robbers_

Wilfred groaned and closed his eyes in an attempt to alleviate the pounding in his head which had been present since the Doctor had climbed out of the TARDIS some time ago. He had no way of knowing exactly how much time had passed but one thing was for sure, it was more than the five minutes he'd been promised. Not that it really matter, in fact Wilf found the reprieve nice in spite of the discomfort in his head, for it gave him time to think. When he'd run aboard the TARDIS at Donna's wedding he hadn't thought about it, he'd just known that he'd never be able to forgive himself if he let he let his friend walk to his death alone, so he'd gone.

He didn't regret it, how could he, but he couldn't help but wonder, what now? If their gravity defying crash landing had taught him anything it was that he was not nearly as resilient in his old age as the Time Lord was. His body still ached from the beating it had taken and he had yet to figure out how on Earth (or wherever they were, to be honest he wasn't sure) he was going to get up to the door and out of here which left him wondering if maybe I would be best if he headed back home to his own time once they got out of this mess. But then the Doctor would be alone again…

He heaved a sigh, set the thoughts aside to be considered later and massaged his temples gently before forcing himself to his feet for the first time since the crash. His joints protested the movement loudly, creaking and cracking audibly as he stretched himself out and looked around the demolished library for another way out. He had no doubt that the Doctor would be back for him but surely it couldn't hurt to have a look around in the meantime…

He was just clambering over a bookshelf, which would have been mounted on the wall is the world had managed to stay the right way up, when he heard it. The ringing of a cloister bell which seemed to resonated from every direction. "What the…" the elderly man whispered as the TARDIS began shaking once more.

He staggered towards the nearest wall, which happened to be the one which should have been the floor, and leaned up against it for support. It occurred to him, as he flattened himself against the hardwood, that floors becoming walls and gravity changing direction at will really wasn't something he should consider normal, nor would he have before meeting the Doctor. Did everyone fall into his world this quickly, he wondered, or was he just looking for the change? Before he could really contemplate his most recent questions, however, the TARDIS gave a massive jerk and he found himself lying on the wall he'd been leaning against which was now the floor once more.

"Bloody hell…" he winced as he stood up, watching in fascination as the water poured down from above, enough of it finding its way back home that the pool filled up about halfway. The rest rained down around him, soaking his clothes once more, but he had to admit that he didn't find that part nearly as fascinating. Nor was he enjoying the cloister bell which was still ringing away as though it was some kind of warning, which, come to think of it, it probably was… Once again his thoughts were cut off by a sudden distraction though this time it was in the form of a yell growing closer and closer that sounded something like –

"Geronimo!" the Doctor cried, plummeting from above and landing in the pool with a massive splash.

"Doctor!" Wilf was at the water's edge in a heartbeat, searching for his friend amongst the waves.

The Time Lord's head broke the surface after only a moment, a manic grin on his face again. "Hello, Wilf!" he said brightly, pulling himself out of the pool with all the coordination of a soaking wet puppy and going so far as to shake his head dry in the process, "Run!"

"Run?" the old human repeated dubiously, his head pounding once more, probably from the cloister bell this time.

"Yeah," the Doctor, who had managed to haul himself back onto dry land, grabbed his companion's hand and tossed him yet another grin, "Run."

And they were off, tearing through the TARDIS faster than Wilfred would have liked but the alien's grip on his hand gave him no choice. By the time they reached the console room the elderly man was aching all over and leaned heavily against the controls for support. The Doctor, on the other hand, seemed energized, zooming about his machine flicking switches, hitting buttons and pulling levers at a frenzied pace, worry playing on his face.

"The bell's a warning then, is it?" Wilf asked, voicing his thought from earlier.

"Engines are phasing, she can't get stabilized to repair. She needs a trip, into the future, should stabilize her. Just five minutes though, I promised Amelia five minutes," came the disjointed reply, and then, without warning, the alien smacked himself on the forehead. Hard. "Oh you stupid, stupid, stupid. It was right there! You should have seen it!"

The old human frowned in confusion, and, in all honesty, concern. "Amelia?" he asked, picking the first question that came to mind, before allowing the others to come tumbling out as well, "Who's Amelia, Doctor? And what did you see where? And why are ya hittin' yourself!?"

But the Time Lord didn't chose to ignore the barrage of queries, pulling one final lever before him instead. The TARDIS began pulsing almost as frantically as her pilot had been running around, and both men grabbed the console for support as the erratic flight began.

"C'mon, Old Girl," the Doctor encouraged loudly, "C'mon!"

Steam (and a bit of smoke) poured from the console, sparks danced around them, and the TARDIS herself was making more noise than Wilf had ever heard out of her. And then, quite suddenly, it stopped. Well, the noise and movement at least, and the sparks for the most part, but the steam and smoke carried on undaunted.

"Good girl," the elderly man whispered, and paid for it with a lung-full of steamy smoke. He didn't even stop to consider just when the TARDIS had become more than a machine in his mind; a lot of his thoughts seemed to be changing since following the Time Lord aboard and he found that he was alright with that. And speaking of the alien he was stumbling out of the ship, a handkerchief covering his mouth. Cursing his wandering thoughts, Wilfred hurried after him.

He stepped out of the TARDIS and was met with the sight of a somewhat overgrown back yard, an old swing set off to one side and a modest house a ways in front. The Doctor was looking around and Wilf got the feeling from the look in his eyes that something had gone just a bit wrong. He was about to voice his concerns when the Time Lord took off towards the house, calling for the mysterious 'Amelia' as he went.

"Amelia! Amelia, I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!"

"Doctor!" Wilfred called, hastening to keep up and reaching the alien's side as he worked at unlocking the back door with his sonic screwdriver, "Doctor, what's going on?"

But again the Time Lord neglected to reply, hurrying through the door the moment the lock clicked open and racing up a flight of stairs calling out the whole way. "Amelia? Amelia, are you alright? Are you there?"

Wilf groaned and trudged dutifully after the alien, there was no point in trying to keep up, he was much too sore for that. The sound of the sonic screwdriver resonated from the top of the stairs along with the Doctor's worried voice as he continued to shout his warning about a 'Prisoner Zero' for all to hear. And then, quite suddenly, his voice cut off, there was a heavy thud and then silence. The old human froze about halfway up the stairs, gripping the railing tightly as he strained his ears for any other sounds. If the war had taught him anything it was that when the world suddenly went silent, it was best to follow its lead. It was only when he heard the floorboards creaking above him that he dared to move once more. He crept slowly and carefully up the stairs, stopping when the landing came into view and peering about for the Doctor and whatever had caused him to stop talking. The sight that met his eyes was not what he'd expected.

A young women, all fiery red hair and long, shapely legs, was tugging down the skirt of her police uniform and tucking her hair under the matching hat as she marched out of one of the two rooms at the top of the stairs. Wilfred shrunk down further out of sight and took a moment to compose himself. Out of all the things which could have caught him off guard since he started travelling with the Doctor he was blindsided by an attractive young policewoman in a short skirt. He could hear Donna's mocking voice in his head already. But there was still the question of what had happened to the Time Lord and why the police were running about this particular house. The only scenario he could come up with was that something had happened to 'Amelia,' whoever she was, and the Doctor had mentioned a Prisoner Zero…

Shaking his head, Wilfred attempted to rid himself of the thought. If something had happened to the 'Amelia' girl then the Doctor was her best bet and he had to find him. Carefully the old human raised himself up and peered out between the railings once more, watching as the young policewoman leaned up against them and following her gaze to the end of the hallway where the Doctor sat crumpled against a radiator apparently unconscious. Worry surged through him at the sight but he remained where he was. The last time he'd run to someone's aid it had cost the Time Lord his life… Well one of them… He frowned, did regenerations work like that? But the young woman's voice pulled him free of his thoughts before they could go any further.

"White male, mid twenties, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up. I've got him restrained," she spoke into her radio calmly, before turning to the alien who was clearly coming around. "Oi! You, sit still."

"Cricket bat," the Doctor slurred, frowning at the sound and speaking again more slowly, "I'm getting cricket bat."

Despite the situation Wilf rolled his eyes. A cricket bat would explain a lot.

The young policewoman looked unimpressed. "You were breaking and entering."

The Time Lord blinked up at her slowly and then, without warning, jumped to his feet only to be tugged down again in an uncoordinated heap by the handcuffs fastening him to the radiator. "Well, that's much better," he noted, gazing down at the cuffs with wide eyes but seeming otherwise unperturbed by his situation, "Brand new me. Whack on the head, just what I needed."

If he hadn't been attempting to stay hidden Wilf would have argued that point but as it was he settled for moving up a few stairs and trying to catch the alien's eye. If this woman had called for backup he couldn't stay hidden on the staircase for much longer but leaving his friend to the human authorities wasn't an option either. God knows what kind of trouble he'd get himself into…

"Do you want to shut up now?" the redhead said coldly, effectively ending both men's trains of thought, "I've got back up on the way."

"Hang on" said the Doctor suddenly, his eyes regaining some of their usual sharpness, "No, wait. You're a policewoman."

"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?"

"But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?"

Wilfred couldn't see the policewoman's face but if the sudden stiffening of her shoulders was any indication he figured the Time Lord had just touched a nerve. He leaned as far onto the landing as he dared and tried once again to catch the Doctor's attention but to no avail.

"Amelia Pond?" she repeated, her voice only adding to the old man's suspicions.

The Doctor, however, must still have been a bit fuzzy for he seemed to miss the warnings. "Yeah, Amelia. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? I promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?"

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time," the policewoman replied in her own Scottish accent.

Wilf frowned again. How far was 'a bit far..?'

The Doctor looked slightly horrified. "How long?" he demanded.

"Six months."

"No. No," came the Time Lord's disbelieving reply as he leaned back against the radiator, "No. No, I can't be six months late. I said five minutes. I promised."

The policewoman turned away and Wilfred barely had time to shrink down out of sight before she was walking towards him, fingering her radio. But it was the look on her face which caught his attention, a look of shock and disbelief which caused him to wonder again just how far 'a bit far' really was.

The Doctor also seemed to take her reaction as reason to be concerned and he crawled forward as far as the handcuffs would allow. "What happened to her?" he asked desperately, "What happened to Amelia Pond?"

The redhead took a deep breath, steeling herself before speaking into her radio once more. "Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up. This guy knows something about Amelia Pond."


	4. Corner Of Your Eye

_**Author's Note:**_

_Alright girls and guys, another update, but, before you dive into it I have a couple of things I'd like to say! Firstly, I need to give a huge to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. You guys are absolutely awesome and I hope my responses to your questions/comments have been adequate so far! Secondly, I have to apologize. These next couple of chapters are, in my mind at least, rather filler-ish. But, because of that, I plan to update again on Monday just to get them out of the way. Hopefully I'll get enough writing done this weekend that it won't be too much of a gap after that!_

_Alright, that's me out of the way, on with the story!_

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

_**Chapter Four**_

_Corner of Your Eye_

Wilf couldn't help the way his chest contracted at the look of horror which overtook the Doctor's face at those words.

"I'm sorry, Amelia. I'm so sorry," the alien whispered, looking impossibly young. Silence followed the helpless statement, stretching on for several moments before the Doctor gave his head a quick shake, pulling himself back from wherever his thoughts had taken him. "I need to speak to whoever lives in this house right now," he said firmly, his voice taking on the same authoritative tone Wilf knew from the face before.

The policewoman, who had turned to face him when he started speaking, glared. "I live here."

"But you're the police."

"Yes, and this is where I live. Have you got a problem with that?" the redhead snapped.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment before replying. "How many rooms?"

That earned him a bewildered stare from both the young homeowner and Wilf. What the hell was he on about?

The young woman seemed to echo his thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"

"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."

The redhead threw another glare the Time Lord's way. "Why?" she demanded.

The Doctor didn't even flinch. "Because it will change your life."

Giving him a look like she was thoroughly questioning his sanity, the young policewoman complied. "Five," she replied, pointing to each door in turn, "One, two, three, four, five."

But that wasn't right. There were two doors right side by side at the top of the stairs which Wilfred had been watching out of the corner of his eye since he'd first taken up hiding on the stairs, plus the other four the redhead had pointed out. "Six," he corrected softly, standing up without thinking to stare at the doors.

There was a single beat of silence in which the gravity of his mistake dawned on him and he slapped himself mentally, before –

"Who the bloody hell are you!?" the redhead yelled, spinning to face him, "And what the hell are you doing in my house!?"

"Never mind him!" the Doctor interrupted impatiently, "There's a whole room in your house you've never noticed and you want to yell at Wilf?"

"Wilf? You know him!?"

The old human groaned and shook his head desperately at the Time Lord in an attempted to shut him up but his efforts were ignored.

"Yes! But that's not the point!" the Doctor replied as he gestured with his free hand towards the sixth room. "There's a room you've never seen before. It's in your house and you've never seen it! Look!"

The redhead rounded on him once more. "Look where?" she shouted.

"Exactly where you don't want to look." The alien's voice had dropped considerably and he fixed the girl with a stare willing her to understand. "Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye. Look behind you."

Slowly, very slowly, and with the look of someone who was still planning the best way to make both men sorry they'd ever stepped foot in her house, the young policewoman did as she was told. The moment the door came into view her jaw dropped. "That's, that is not possible. How's that possible?"

"There's a perception filter all round the door," the Doctor explained, "Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it…"

"But that's a whole room," the girl whispered in disbelief, "You were right, that's a whole room I've never even noticed."

"The filter stops you noticing. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding."

And suddenly Wilfred understood. The concern for Amelia, because she lived here, all that shouting about Prisoner Zero…. "It's that Prisoner Zero, isn't it? That's what's hiding in there."

The Time Lord nodded. "Yep," he confirmed before turning his attention to the policewoman who was slowly walking towards the door, "And you need to uncuff me now!"

"I don't have the key," came the distant reply as the girl moved closer and closer to both Wilf and the door, "I lost it."

She lost it? A real copper wouldn't lose the key to their handcuffs, would they? The suspicion Wilfred had felt earlier reared its head once more as he stared at the young woman coming closer and closer.

"How can you have lost it?" the Doctor cried in exasperation, straining against his restrains, "Stay away from that door!"

But she'd already reached it.

"Do not touch that door!"

Her hand was on the doorknob.

"Listen to me, do not open that -"

Wilf hurried up the last few steps and moved to stop her but she slipped inside the mystery room before he could reach her.

The Doctor threw up his free hand in exasperation. "Why does no one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?"

Wilfred raised one eyebrow at him and the alien sighed.

"Again…" he amended, his hand diving into his pockets in search of something, "My screwdriver, where is it? Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?"

Glancing around, the old human offered his friend a shrug. "I don't see it, Doctor."

The Time Lord made a frustrated sound. "Get me out of these things," he moaned, tugging desperately against the handcuffs.

Wilfred hurried to his side and began inspecting the radiator but he could see no way to dislodge the handcuffs. "Can you get your hand out?" he wondered aloud, "No, I suppose not…"

"There's nothing here," came the policewoman's disembodied voice from within the room.

"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the room," the Doctor called back, an edge of desperation present in his voice, "What makes you think you could see it? Now please, just get out."

"Silver, blue at the end?" the disembodied voice asked, ignoring the Doctor's pleas to get herself out.

Despite everything, Wilf caught a flash of relief in the Time Lord's eyes. "My screwdriver, yeah."

"It's here," the girl called.

"Must have rolled under the door," the Doctor reasoned.

There was a paused from within the room. "Yeah. Must have." Another pause. "And then it must have jumped up on the table."

The Doctor froze. "Get out of there," he said softly, but there was no reply. "Get out of there!" he tried again, yelling this time, but still he was met with silence. "Wilf! Get her out!"

Wilfred didn't need telling twice. He ran to the door, ignoring his still present aches and pains, and burst inside. The young woman was standing next to a single wooden table with the Doctor's suddenly very slimy sonic screwdriver in her hands.

The elder men hurried forward and took the screwdriver from her, "C'mon, we've got to get out of here!" he told her as he began ushering her towards the door. They were almost there when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he froze without thinking. There was something behind them, he just knew it. One look at his young charge told him that she felt it too.

"What is it?" came the Doctor's voice from outside, "What are you doing?"

"There's nothing here," the red haired girl replied slowly, and Wilf was impressed by the fact that her voice was quite steady even as she looked around for the source of the feeling, "But…"

"Corner of your eye…" the Time Lord reminded them, though the old human could hear the dread in his voice.

"What is it, Doctor?" he asked softly.

"Don't try to see it," said the alien quickly, "If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it. Do not look."

Wilfred, already accustom to following the Doctor's instructions, stood very still but the young policewoman continued turning from side to side in search of… Whatever it was… And then came the scream. Wilf followed the screaming girl's gaze against his better judgement and came face to face with a creature the likes of which he'd never seen; a giant worm-like thing with long, needle-like teeth hanging down from the ceiling and staring right at them with its mouth wide open.

"Run!" he shouted, pushing the redhead towards the door, while the Doctor screamed at them to get out from his place in the hall.

They bolted for the door, emerging into the hallway together. The policewoman slammed the door closed behind them and the two of them skidded to a halt by the Time Lord's side.

"Give me that," the alien said sharply, grabbing the sonic screwdriver from Wilf and locking the door before setting to work on his handcuffs, but the screwdriver wouldn't cooperate, "Come on. What's the bad alien done to you?"

The red haired girl was staring, wide eyed, between the door and the two men in her hallway. "Will that door hold it?" she asked, her voice bordering on frantic.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, of course," the Doctor's voice was dripping with sarcasm even as he continued to work on his malfunctioning screwdriver, "It's an interdimensional multiform from outer space. They're all terrified of wood."

Two almost identical glares were sent his way but a bright light from within the room saved the alien from any verbal responses which may have accompanied them.

"What's that? What's it doing?" the girl demanded.

"I don't know." The Doctor was rubbing the screwdriver now and sounding more than a little tense. "Getting dressed? Run. Just go. Both of you. Her backup's coming, just go with them. I'll be fine."

"There is no backup," said the policewoman in frustration.

"And I'm not leaving you, Doctor!" Wilf added, then blinked, "Wait, there's no backup?"

The Time Lord looked equally as confused. "I heard you on the radio. You called for backup," he argued.

"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio." came the terse reply.

"You're a policewoman."

"I'm a kissogram!" Reaching up she removed her cap and the long red hair Wilf had seen her tuck away came tumbling out in all its glory.

"Oh good…" the elderly man muttered but all other reactions to the revelation were cut off by the door falling down into the hallway before them with a bang.

Wilf, who had been expecting the worm-like creature, was caught off guard for the second time that day by the sight of a man dressed in workman's overalls and holding the leach of a large, black dog, standing in the doorway.

"But it's just…" the girl began.

"No, it isn't," said the Doctor.

And then Wilf saw it. The human face was growling while the dog was perfectly still. "Look at the faces," he said softly.

The man chose that moment to bark loudly at them.

The policewoman – no – kissogram's eyes grew, if possible, even wider. "What?" she whispered and then turned to the two men, "I'm sorry, but what?"

"It's all one creature," the Time Lord explained, "One creature disguised as two. Clever old multiform. A bit of a rush job, though," he raised his voice slightly to address the creature, "Got the voice a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?"

The man stared at the three of them for a moment then opened his mouth, revealing the worm's long, needle-like teeth.

"Stay, boy!" the Doctor shouted, and Wilf could make out a slight tinge of panic in his voice, "The three of us, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for backup – "

"I didn't send for backup!"

The Time Lord groaned. "I know. That was a clever lie to save our lives," he muttered before turning his attention back to the creature. "Okay, yeah, no backup. And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had backup, you'd have to kill us."

"Maybe don't mention killin' us, Doctor…" Wilf hissed at him but any further comment was interrupted by echoing, disembodied voice which caused the old human to all but jump out of his skin.

_"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."_ The voice seemed to resonate from everywhere and try as he might, Wilfred couldn't distinguish its source. _"Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."_

"What's that?" the redhead whispered.

"Well, that would be backup," the Doctor whispered back then addressed the creature yet again, "Okay, one more time. We do have backup and that's definitely why we're safe."

"_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

The alien made a face. "Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration."

But the creature had obviously heard enough. Without so much as a glance in their direction it turned and vanished into yet another room.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

"That thing's leaving!" the girl cried.

"Maybe it doesn't feel like bein' incinerated," Wilf quipped as he watched the Doctor fight frantically with his screwdriver.

"Come on, work, work, work, come on," the Time Lord murmured and at long last the handcuffs came free. "Run! Run!" he shouted, grabbing his two human companions by the hand and bolting down the stairs while the disembodied voice continued repeating its message for all to hear.


	5. Worse Than Everybody's Aunt

_**Author's Note: **_

_Well here's that Monday update I promised! It's still a bit filler-ish but that okay, the actual plot will be rearing its lovely head in the next couple of chapters so just stick with it! As for the next update, I can't see it happening before Friday or Saturday, I'm a bit behind in my writing at the moment and need to catch up. Anyway, please enjoy and don't forget to let me know what you think!_

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

_**Chapter Five**_

_Worse Than Everybody's Aunt_

To the Doctor's credit he managed to wait until they'd come flying out into the backyard and the back door was soniced firmly shut behind them before he began his interrogation. "Kissogram?" he demanded

"Yes, a kissogram," the red haired girl snapped back, "What's going on?"

But the Time Lord ignored her question with a practiced ease, continuing with his own line of questioning. "Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?"

"You broke into my house," was the irritated response, "It was this or a French maid. What's going on? Tell me."

True to form the Doctor ignored her question yet again and took off and running again towards the patch of yard where the TARDIS sat instead. Wilf and the young woman exchanged a quick glance before tearing off after him amid frustrated noises. They caught up only once he'd stopped next to his ship.

"Tell me!" the redhead shouted again as they skidded to a halt.

Turning away from the TRDIS door with an exasperated sigh the Time Lord glanced between his two companions before focusing on the girl. "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?"

"Yes," both Wilfred and the redhead replied in unison.

"Me too," the Doctor agreed even as he fought with the lock on the Police Box's door, "No, no, no, no! Don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding. Not letting us in." He rubbed the wood paneling as gently as he could in his frustrated state.

Of course, the disembodied alien voice chose that moment to boom out its warning once more. _"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

Glancing around in a futile attempt to locate its source Wilf spotted something which got his adrenaline pumping once more. The creature – still in the form of the man and his dog – was barking at them from the window of the young redhead's house. "C'mon!" he shouted, grabbing both the girl and the Time Lord by the hand and tugging them away from the building.

But the Doctor was having none of it. "No, wait, hang on," he said, struggling to break free as he pointed over his shoulder at what appeared to be a garden shed, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. The shed. I destroyed that shed last time I was here. Smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one," the girl replied in exasperation, joining Wilf in his effort to tug the alien along, but he got free of them and dashed over to the wooden structure, causing them to hurry after him while the girl continued in a frantic voice, "Let's go."

"Yeah, but the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least." He licked the wood and ran the taste around his mouth. "Twelve years," he corrected before a look of horrified realization appeared on his face and he pulled away from the shed, "I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late."

The sound of barking caused the old human to glance over his shoulder nervously. "He's coming," he warned.

"You said six months," the Doctor corrected softly, ignoring Wilf completely and staring at the redhead instead, "Why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go," the girl hissed, glancing back at Wilf for help.

"Doctor, please," the old man added. He had his suspicions, sure, but now was really not the time to address them.

"This matters," the Time Lord continued stubbornly, his eyes still fixed on his female companion, "This is important. Why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes!"

And there it was. Wilfred closed his eyes briefly, apparently 'a bit far' really meant twelve years too far.

"What?" the Doctor whispered, shock and disbelief evident in every line of his face.

"Come on," little Amelia told him.

"What?"

"Come on, Doctor!" Wilf added as both he and Amelia grabbed the Time Lord by the hand and pulled away from the house once more.

"What?" the alien shouted again, even as they took off running and the disembodied voice boomed on. 

* * *

Wilfred let Amelia take the lead, tugging both he and the Doctor down a winding village lane complete with waist high stone walls on either side. Wherever they were, it certainly wasn't big. Classic features like that didn't appear in the larger the cities anymore.

The Time Lord seemed more interested in their red-haired companion than where they may have found themselves, her revelation still stunning him. "You're Amelia."

"And you're late," the girl snapped back.

"Amelia Pond. You're the little girl."

"I'm Amelia and you're late."

"What happened?"

Here Wilf snorted slightly shook his head. The Doctor really was oblivious sometimes when it came to human emotions. And time. For a time traveler he didn't always seem able to understand the impact time could have on a person.

"Twelve years," Amelia glared, unknowingly supporting her fellow human's unvoiced thoughts.

"You hit me with a cricket bat!"

"Twelve years."

"A cricket bat!"

"Twelve years and four psychiatrists."

A flash of concern finally appeared on the alien's face. "Four?"

Amelia looked away. "I kept biting them."

"Why?"

"They said you weren't real."

Wilfred frowned sadly, feeling his paternal instincts flaring up for the child the young woman had once been. How lonely must she have been to continue defending a man everyone believed existed only in her head? Sylvia and Donna had both had their imaginary friends, Sylvia more so, but both girls had quickly moved on to prefer the company on the living. He couldn't help but wonder what had held little Amelia back.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat." _

The same disembodied voice as before broke through the old human's thoughts without warning. Wilf froze at the sound which was coming, improbably, from the speakers of an ice-cream van parked just up ahead, and the Doctor and Amelia stopped with him.

"No, no, no, come on. What?" said the red-head in disbelief, staring towards the van, "We're being staked out by an ice-cream van."

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

The Time Lord was off and running again before the voice had even finished its sentence, Amelia right on his heels. Wilf tried very hard not to groan as he hurried after them. No wonder Donna had come back in the best shape of her life, life with their alien friend seemed to include an obscene amount of running. He caught up to his companions just as the Doctor was interrogating the ice-cream man.

"What's that? Why are you playing that?" the Time Lord demanded.

The man looked rather stunned. "It's supposed to be Claire De Lune..." he murmured helplessly.

But the Doctor ignored him, grabbing his radio instead and holding it up to his ear as the alien message played once more, though this time it came from not only the speakers but also the radio and (unless Wilf was very much mistaken) the iPod of a nearby jogger and some woman's mobile.

"Doctor..." the old human said softly, "It's everywhere. How can it be everywhere?"

"_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amelia asked, fear evident in her voice now.

Once more there was no reply from the Time Lord, who was staring around in what Wilf would have to call a frantic manner. And then he was moving again, dashing towards some nearby houses and going so far as to vault over the fence which surrounded their yards in his haste. Amelia and Wilfred exchanged a quick look before hurrying after him, taking a slightly longer route which did not require any jumping, much to the old man's relief. Even so, Amelia could run faster than him and by the time he'd stepped through the door into the first house in the row (which the Doctor had burst into without so much as knocking) the conversation told him that he was probably missing something.

A woman, likely a few years older than himself, was talking to Amelia while the Doctor fiddled with her television in the background, a giant blue eye taking up the whole screen while the alien message played on.

"Are you a policewoman now?" the older woman was asking.

Amelia looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Well, sometimes."

"I thought you were a nurse," the woman continued.

At this point the Doctor looked up from his work, curious, but Wilf caught his eye and warned him without a word to stay out of it. He knew this particular technique; it was one of the benefits of getting older.

"I can be a nurse," Amelia replied.

"Or actually a nun?"

"I dabble," now the red-head was verging on desperate.

Wilf smiled to himself. Points to the older generation.

The woman still looked unconvinced but changed the subject all the same, glancing from the Doctor (who had gone back to fiddling with the television remote) to Wilfred (who was still smiling) and then back to Amelia. "Amy, who are your friends?" she asked.

The Doctor looked up abruptly. "Who's Amy?" he asked, looking confused, "You were Amelia."

"Yeah? Now I'm Amy," the red-head replied defensively.

"Amelia Pond. That was a great name!"

Amy's expression hardened ever so slightly. "Bit fairy tale."

Wilfred suspected that there was more to that particular comment than what met the eye but wisely decided to stay out of it. The girl was hurt and she had every right to be, it wasn't his place to get involved.

"I know you, don't I?" The old woman had turned her gaze on the Doctor now, "I've seen you somewhere before, not you though..." she added, giving Wilfred a quick once over.

"Not me. Brand new face," the Time Lord pulled a face as though he thought it proved his point, "First time on. And not Wilf either. He couldn't get out of the TARDIS last time, too much of a climb." There was a brief pause. "And what sort of job's a kissogram?"

Amelia shifted uncomfortably. "I go to parties and I kiss people. With outfits." She glared at the looks she was receiving. "It's a laugh."

"You were a little girl five minutes ago," the Doctor told her heatedly.

"And little girls grow up," Wilf reminded him gently, having recognized the protective undercurrent in his voice. He'd heard it in his own voice on many occasions and he couldn't help but notice that it didn't sound at all out of place coming from the Time Lord...

"I know that," the alien snapped.

"You're worse than my aunt," said Amy with a huff.

"I'm the Doctor. I'm worse than everybody's aunt," the Time Lord fired back, the undercurrent Wilf had picked up on still very much present in his voice, before turning to the other woman in the room and adding more calmly, "And that is not how I'm introducing myself."

Wilf snorted and the Doctor tossed him a glare and turned his sonic screwdriver on a handheld radio, causing the disembodied voice to pour from it.

_"Repetez. Le Prisonnier. Zero wird der menschliche."_

"Okay," said the Time Lord, setting the radio back down, "So it's everywhere, like Wilf said, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world." He hurried over to the window, forced it open and peered upwards.

"What's up there, Doctor?" Wilf asked, following him to the window and poking his head out as well to stare at the sky.

"What are you two looking for?" Amy demanded from behind them.

The Doctor pulled his head back inside and Wilf did the same; there was nothing remarkable to see anyway.

"Okay." The Time Lord paced the length of the room once before returning to face them, "Planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core? They're going to need a forty percent fission blast." Turning away from them once more he made his way over to a young man who had entered at some point during his speech and began looking him up and down as he spoke. "But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium sized starship, that's twenty minutes. What do you think, twenty minutes? Yeah, twenty minutes. We've got twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes to what?" Amy asked nervously.

"Are you the Doctor?" the young man cut across her.

The old woman was smiling. "He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor. It's him."

"Shut up," Amy muttered, looking as though she'd rather be anywhere than a part of this conversation.

Not that Wilfred could blame her.

"Cartoons?" the Doctor asked softly, giving everyone else in the room a very strange look indeed. There was a brief pause and he was off again, heading over to the couch and sitting down to stare into the giant eye as though the revelation that he was forever immortalized in a child's cartoons had never happened.

"Gran, it's him, isn't it?" said the young man joyfully, "It's really him!"

Amy glared. "Jeff, shut up," she snapped before turning to the Doctor and repeating her previous question, "Twenty minutes to what?"

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat."  
_

"The human residence," the Doctor replied at last from his spot on the couch where he was still engaged in a staring contest with the massive eye, "They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship, and it's going to incinerate the planet."

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."_

"Twenty minutes to the end of the world."


	6. Staying Alive

_**Author's Note:**_

_Well, here we are, another Saturday update! This is the longest chapter yet (though the next one will be longer still!) so hopefully you all enjoy it! If you do (or if you don't) please let me know! I know you're reading, I can see your views but I'm starting to worry that this story isn't keeping your attention well enough to warrant feedback. If that's the case then fair enough, like I said at the beginning I'm still not sure about this format, but I'm enjoying writing it so I'll carry on until the enjoyment fades. XD Of course, you could just be like me. I admit that I'm guilty of reading Fanfiction and failing to leave a review but I'm making a conscious effort to break that habit so if any of your lovely readers would like to trade reviews, just let me know!_

_That's all for now guys, enjoy the chapter!_

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

_**Chapter Six**_

_Staying Alive_

Wilfred's suspicion that they'd found themselves in a small little town was confirmed the moment Amy led the trio to the main street. The town around them wasn't just small, it was tiny. Normally such a thing would have pleased him but today the elderly man got the feeling that tiny may not be good. At least they'd managed to convince Jeff and his grandmother to stay behind. If life with Donna had taught Wilf anything it was how to detect an upcoming slap and Jeff's continuing desire to talk about Amy's Doctor-themed cartoons had their artist seconds away from making all red-heads proud when he'd managed to herd both her and her alien muse out the door.

"What is this place? Where are we?" the Doctor asked as they continued to hurry down the road.

"Leadworth," Amy replied as though that explained everything.

The Time Lord glanced around. "Where's the rest of it?"

"This is it."

"Is there an airport?"

"No."

"A nuclear power station?"

Wilf raised his eyebrows. The thought of this new, rather clumsy Doctor hopping around a nuclear power station was more than a little unsettling. Actually, come to think of it, even the alien's former face in a nuclear power station could prove dangerous.

Amy chuckled desperately, "No."

The Doctor glanced at her. "Even a little one?"

"No."

"Nearest city?" the Time Lord tired.

"Gloucester. Half an hour by car."

"We don't have half an hour."

"We don't have a car," Wilf pointed out.

"Well, that's good. Fantastic, that is," said the Doctor sarcastically, "Twenty minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut." He glared before something else caught his attention and he hurried towards it. "What is _that_?"

"It's a duck pond," Amy replied as she and Wilf scurried to keep up.

Coming to a stop at the pond's edge the Time Lord turned to face them with an odd expression on his face. "Why aren't there any ducks?" he demanded.

"I don't know," said the red-head indignantly, "There's never any ducks."

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?"

"It just is," Amy was looking irritated now, "Is it important, the duck pond?"

The Doctor jerked violently and Wilfred felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Not again, he couldn't be dying again, could he? He hurried forward to steady him as the alien staggered backwards. "Doctor?" he asked softly, worry clawing its way up his throat. Maybe the regeneration had gone wrong? Maybe crashing so soon afterwards had damaged something? Maybe...

But if the Time Lord could sense his older companion's worry he ignored it, responding instead to Amy's question. "I don't know. Why would I know?" he said in a slightly breathless voice, one hand clutching at his chest.

"Doctor, c'mon, sit down," Wilf ordered firmly, guiding his friend downwards until they were both sitting on the edge of the pond, "What's going on? You're not..." He let his voice trail off, the worry in eyes finishing the question for him.

The Doctor met the old human's eyes and forced a smile. "No, no, I'm not dying. I'm fine really. This is just too soon. I'm not ready, I'm not done yet. But I'm fine."

Wilfred gave him a doubtful look and was about to call him on it when someone turned down the sun. At least, that's what it seemed like. An odd looking, dark, _something_ slid into place in front of the sun, casting the world below into shadow.

"What's happening?" Amy asked, staring up at the sun, "Why's it going dark?"

But almost as soon as the question was out of her mouth the shadows disappeared and the light returned but the sun still didn't look right. It was covered in orange waves, which looked to Wilf almost like there was some kind of energy was between the Earth and its life-giving star. "What is that, some kind of energy field?" he asked, glancing at the man sitting next to him.

The Time Lord looked mildly impressed. "It's a forcefield. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere. Now they're getting ready to boil the planet." Both Wilfred and Amy stared at him in horror as he pulled himself back to his feet and looked around at the people who were emerging from nearby buildings. "Oh, and here they come. The human race. The end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone."

"This isn't real, is it?" said the red-head softly, clasping her hands nervously beneath her chin "This is some kind of big wind up."

"Why would I wind you up?" the Doctor looked genuinely hurt at the mere suggestion of it.

"You told me you had a time machine," Amy pointed out.

"And you believed me!"

"Then I grew up."

"Oh," said the Time Lord sadly, "You never want to do that. Look at Wilf! Old enough to be all grown up but here he is, exploring the universe! Good old Wilf." He grinned at the pair of them then jerked as though a thought had physically struck him. "No. Hang on. Shut up. Wait. I missed it." He smacked himself roughly on the forehead. "I saw it and I missed it." Another smack. "What did I see? I saw. What did I see? I saw, I saw, I saw..."

Amy turned to Wilf, wide eyed, as the Doctor stared silently into space.

"He does that," the old human told her softly, "Just go with it."

"Twenty minutes," and with that the Time Lord was back from wherever his mind had taken him, a determined look on his face as he turned to face his two companions, "I can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me." He paused. "That choice really only applies to Amy..."

Wilf shrugged. He'd have stayed even if he did have the choice to leave and they both knew it. Or at least, he hoped the Doctor knew it.

"No."

They both stared at Amy in disbelief.

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor asked.

But that was obviously the wrong things to say. "No!" the girl yelled, taking hold of the alien's tie and dragging him forcefully towards a car which had just pulled up.

"Amy, no, no, what are you doing?!" the Time Lord yelped, struggling against her grip until she slammed his tie into the door of a nearby car and locked it. "Are you out of your mind? Wilf, help!"

Wilfred, who had hurried after them, shook his head behind the red-head's back, trying to warn him not to push his luck.

"Who are you?" Amy demanded, then pointed over her shoulder at Wilf, "And who the hell is he?"

"You know who I am. And I told you, that's Wilf!"

"No, really. Who are you two?"

"Look at the sky," cried the Doctor, who was clearly getting agitated, "End of the world, twenty minutes."

"Well, better talk quickly, then," the red-head snapped back.

"Amy, listen to me a minute," said Wilfred, stepping into the line of fire and shooting the Doctor a look to keep him from interrupting, "My name is Wilfred Mott and I just want to help. Now, I don't know what happened when you two met, I wasn't there, but I know the Doctor and I trust him. He's a good man, Amy, he really is. He's the most wonderful man I've ever met." He felt the alien's gaze on him but did not make eye contact. They both recognized those words and knew when they'd last been spoken but now was not the time to go down that road. "He can save this world," he finished instead, "He always does."

There was a beat of silence before the Time Lord spoke, giving Amy his full attention once more. "Catch," he said softly, producing an apple with what appeared to be a face craved into it from the depths of one of his pockets and tossing it to her. "I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveller. Everything I told you twelve years ago is true. I'm real. Wilf is real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go right now, everything you've ever known is over."

But the girl shook her head slightly. "I don't believe you."

"Just twenty minutes," the Doctor pleaded, taking hold of the red-head's wrist and holding it so she couldn't help but look at the apple in her hand, "Just believe me for twenty minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one… Amy, believe for twenty minutes."

"Please," Wilf added gently.

And at long last little Amelia Pond, the girl who got left behind, relented and unlocked the car. "What do we do?" she asked.

"Stop that nurse." The words had barely left the Doctor's mouth before he was moving, sprinting back across the lawn and snatching the camera phone out of the hands of an unsuspecting young man wearing nursing scrubs. "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" he demanded.

Hurrying to catch up, Wilf and Amy arrived just as the Time Lord had finished his question. Amy stopped next to the nurse while Wilf took up what he was coming to see as his place by the alien's side.

The red-head's presence seemed to distract the nurse from the task of answering, however, for he turned to her instead. "Amy," he said in surprise.

"Hi!" Amy's voice was uncharacteristically breathless as she turned to him and she seemed to be grabbing at his arm and yet actively trying not to all at the same time, "Oh, this is Rory, he's a friend."

"Boyfriend," Rory the nurse corrected.

"Kind of boyfriend," the red-head corrected again

"Amy..."

Ah, well that certainly explained a lot. Wilfred smiled and shook his head at the exchange he was witnessing.

The Doctor, however, was watching them impatiently. "Man and dog. Why?"

"Oh my God," said Rory, a look of dawning realization on his face, "It's him."

"Just answer his question, please," Amy pleaded, the same look of embarrassment she'd had on her face when Jeff and his grandmother recognized the alien reappearing in full force.

Girlfriend or not, Rory still ignored her, staring at the Time Lord with wide eyes. "It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor."

"Yeah," his girlfriend replied, obviously trying to make it sound like it was no big deal, "He came back."

"But he was a story," the nurse pushed on, "He was a game."

Finally the Doctor's patience seemed to run out. He stepped towards Rory and grabbed him roughly by the shirt so their faces were mere inches apart. "Man and dog. Why? Tell me now."

"Sorry," said the nurse quickly, looking nervous, "Because he can't be there. Because he's –"

"In a hospital, in a coma," the Time Lord joined in, finishing the sentence in unison with the younger man.

"Yeah..." Rory confirmed slowly.

A grin worked its way onto the alien's face. "Knew it. Multiform, you see?" He released his grip on Rory's shirt and began smoothing out the wrinkles he'd caused, "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a life feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind." He jobbed the nurse happily in the forehead.

"Doctor," Wilf reprimanded sharply, his parental instincts getting the better of him.

The Time Lord had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry, get a bit carried away. Brand new me, this one likes touching..."

A sudden bark from behind them caused the group to spin around. The aforementioned multiform stood at the edge of the lawn, snarling unpleasantly at them from its mouths, both human and dog. It was disconcerting to say the least.

But the Doctor didn't seem phased, walking a few paces towards the creature without hesitation. "Prisoner Zero," he said by way of greeting.

"What?" Rory hissed, "There's a Prisoner Zero too?"

"Yes," Amy replied quickly, her eyes still on the scene unfolding before her.

And were there ever things to see. A spaceship, made up of what Wilf could only assume was some sort of blue, crystallized materiel which formed points jutting out in every direction, descended from the heavens and stopped overhead. A giant blue eye, identical to the one which had commandeered Jeff's grandmother's television, was fastened in the center and busily scanning the earth below. Actually, if he avoided looking at the eye, the old human had to admit the ship itself was rather beautiful.

The Time Lord was staring up at it too, but returned his focus quickly to the alien convict standing in front of him and pulled his screwdriver out of his pocket. "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology," he said with a smirk, "And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." He raised the device about his head with a grin, pushed the button, and world went mad.

Streetlights exploded, car alarms blared, some poor old woman's scooter took off of its own accord and an unmanned fire engine trundled past them and off down the road with its crew chasing after it. Wilfred, Amy and Rory stared around them, torn between laughing and full out panicking, just trying to take it all in.

"I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" the Doctor called, obviously enjoying himself.

Prisoner Zero barked angrily as a red telephone box exploded. But that wasn't the only explosion. The sonic screwdriver had clearly reached its limit and Doctor dropped it in surprise as it went up in sparks and smoke.

"No, no!" the Time Lord yelled, picking up the fallen tool before throwing it back down in disgust, "No, don't do that!"

"Look, it's going," Rory called out, indicating the spaceship which was indeed leaving.

The Doctor jumped back to his feet in one swift motion, his arms stretched wide. "No, come back. He's here! Come back! He's here. Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is here..." His voice trailed off as the ship disappeared.

Wilfred, who was standing next to the Time Lord, heaved a sigh. "How did they not see that?" he asked.

"Doctor!" Amy's voice cut across any reply the Doctor had in mind, "The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain."

And sure enough Prisoner Zero was gone.

"Well, of course it did," the alien replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, o'course," Wilf muttered sarcastically but no one heard him.

"What do we do now?" Amy asked.

The old human shook his head slightly. It seemed he wasn't the only one who was learning simply to accept things such as melting aliens and move on. The Doctor seemed to have that effect on everyone.

"It's hiding in human form," the Time Lord replied though it seemed he was simply thinking out loud, "We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes. Come on, think. Think! Think! Think!" He tapped himself hard in the temples before dashing over to the drain down which Prisoner Zero had escaped and staring down at it. "Where would it go? Where _could_ it go..?"

The three humans followed, but more slowly. While Amy seemed to be accepting things fairly well (excluding the tiny hiccup when she locked the Doctor to a car with his tie) her boyfriend was clearly struggling. Wilfred offered the young man a kind and, hopefully, reassuring smile and the nurse gave a shaky nod in return before kneeling to stare down the drain.

"You won't see anything," the Doctor sighed, watching as Rory searched the darkness in vain, "Prisoner Zero's long gone."

"So that thing, that hid in my house for twelve years?" Amy asked as her boyfriend stood up mutely.

"Multiforms can live for millennia," the Time Lord explained, "Twelve years is a pit-stop."

Wilf frowned suddenly as a thought occurred to him. "Hold on," he said slowly, staring between the drain and the Doctor, "Prisoner Zero's been here for twelve years, right? So how come his guards decide to show up and look for him on the same day we come back again?"

"The same minute, even?" Amy added, catching on.

"They're looking for him, but they followed me," the Time Lord explained, "They saw me through the crack last time I was here, got a fix, they're only late because I am."

"What's he on about?" Rory asked desperately, staring at them all.

But the Doctor obviously wasn't in the mood for any more explanations. "Nurse boy, give me your phone," he demanded instead, holding out his hand expectantly.

"How can he be real?" the young man continued, waving the aforementioned phone around but otherwise ignoring the request, "He was never real."

"Phone. Now. Give me."

The nurse handed his mobile over though he still appeared to be in a daze. "He was just a game," he rambled on desperately, and Wilf realized that he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else, "We were kids. You made me dress up as him."

Chuckling at the mental image of a tiny Rory swimming in a battered suit and tie several sized too big for him, Wilf turned his attention away from the boy's rambling and focused instead on the phone in the Time Lord's hands, watching over the alien's shoulder as he scrolled through the most recent photos. "These photos," he asked, gesturing to the mobile, "They're all coma patients?"

"Yep," Rory confirmed, Wilfred's question seemingly snapping him back to reality.

"No," the Doctor corrected, "They're all the multiform. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"He had a dog, though," Amy pointed out, "There's a dog in a coma?"

"Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog," the Time Lord explained easily then his head snapped up and he gave to group an excited grin. "Laptop!" he announced, turning to Amy, "Your friend, what was his name? Not him," he gestured towards Rory absentmindedly, "The good-looking one."

Wilfred sighed. "Doctor..." he groaned.

"Thanks," Rory quipped sarcastically.

"Jeff," his girlfriend ignored her two fellow humans and replied to the Doctor instead.

Rory made a noise somewhere between a frustrated huff and a groan. "Oh, thanks."

Wilf felt a surge of sympathy for the young man and clapped a hand on his shoulder in reassurance.

The Doctor, however, showed no such consideration. "He had a laptop in his bag," he continued with his train of thought as though there had been no interruption, "A laptop. Big bag, big laptop. I need Jeff's laptop. You two, get to the hospital. Get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Wilf, go with them. Keep everyone alive. Phone me when you're done." And then he was off, striding back in the direction they'd come, back towards Jeff's grandmother's place.

The elderly human watched him go before heaving a sigh. Keep everyone alive. No pressure then, right Doctor... But then he realized something and a smile took up residence on his face. In his own, Doctor-y way the Time Lord had just told him that he trusted him. Still smiling to turned to the couple he'd been left to watch over, "Alright, we need to get to the hospital."

"Rory's car," said Amy quickly, "Come on." And with that she took off in the direction of a red and white Mini parked on the other side of the street with Wilfred hurrying along behind her.

"But how can he be here? How can the Doctor be here?" the nurse cried out, still unable to comprehend what was happening even as he ran to catch up, climbed into the driver's seat and drove off in the direction of the hospital.

No one answered him.


	7. Silence Will Fall

_**Author's Note:**_

_Alright ladies and gentlemen, here it is, the first real hint about the plot. Can you spot it? If you can, what do you think it means? This is also the longest chapter so far so please enjoy!_

_On another note, my update time may well be longer than a week this time. I know, I know, I'm bad. I blame Olympic hockey, it's very distracting, and also three lovely mother goats who decided the last three days were a great time to go into labour. Good times. Anyway, I should be free and clear of any more babies for the next few weeks and Canada's only got the gold medal game left to win so I should be less distracted starting soon. XP Still, I'm a lot further behind they'll likely be a bit of a gap… Sorry in advance. _

_That's all from me!_

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

_**Chapter Seven**_

_Silence Will Fall_

Despite the speed at which Rory was driving an awkward silence still managed to permeate the Mini as they bounced along the narrow road. After a quick discussion regarding how quickly the young nurse could get them to the hospital the vehicle had gone quiet and as he searched for conversation starters, Wilfred realized just how little he knew about the younger pair sitting in front of him. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure that Rory knew his name...

"I'm Wilfred, by the way," he introduced himself, smiling so that he could be seen in the rear view mirror, "Wilfred Mott. Not sure if the Doctor introduced me or not."

Rory jumped slightly as the older man's voice snapped him back from wherever his head had been. "He didn't. Not to me," he replied before his manners caught up with him, "Sorry. Rory Williams." He took one hand off the wheel with the intention of shaking hands.

The old human chuckled softly. "Let's forgo the handshake, you're driving," he said kindly, "Pleasure to meet you, Rory."

The nurse shook his head. "God, I'm so scattered. I'm not usually like this."

"Aliens have just invaded your hometown and you've been asked to help save the world by a man you believed to be a character in a childhood dress-up game," said Wilf calmly, still smiling, "Any sane person would be a bit scattered right now."

Rory nodded and the car lapsed into silence once more, not quite a comfortable silence but an improvement on the one before. It stayed that way, devoid of all talking, until (in the middle of a corner while the Mini's tires were squealing away loudly) Amelia spun around to face him.

"All those things the Doctor said. Aliens. Time travel. A box that's really a ship. Everything..." she shook her head and stared into the old man's eyes with the expression of someone who wanted so badly to believe but couldn't quite get herself to. Someone who had seen her faith shattered but still held on to all the pieces because she just couldn't bring herself to throw them away.

"It's true," Wilfred replied, answering the question the girl couldn't quite ask, "All of it. And for what it's worth, he really did mean it when he said five minutes."

Amy pursed her lips but didn't dispute the claim, settling instead for another question. "How do you know him?"

"We were travelin' together when we crashed into your backyard," the elderly man explained, purposely leaving out any mention of just what those last few adventures had entailed. The Daleks. Donna losing her memories. The Master... He pulled himself free of the images which were bombarding his head with considerable effort and focused on the young redhead before him once more. "And before that my granddaughter traveled with him. They were best mates, Donna and the Doctor…" He smiled sadly.

Amelia frowned at his choice of words but before she could question him about it the Mini came to an abrupt stop in front of an old brick building which served as the local hospital and the redhead flung herself out the car instead. Wilfred and Rory followed her lead, running up the front steps and into the lobby where they found a small crowd of people milling about as though they didn't quite know what to do with themselves.

Wilf frowned. "We need to get up to the coma patients," he reminded the other two, "Rory, you work here. Do you think you could get us up there?"

The nurse gave a stiff nod and hurried over to the crowd while Amy and Wilfred looked on. It didn't take long for Rory to return but he was frowning. "Something's happened up there. We can't get through."

"Yes," said Amy, looking frustrated, "But what's happened?"

"I don't know," her boyfriend glanced over his shoulder at the crowd, "No one knows. Phone him."

But Wilf, who had been watching the exchange, smiled suddenly. "No need," he cut in, gesturing towards the redhead, "We've got everything we need to get up there right here."

Rory and Amy exchanged looks of confusion before the latter's face lit up. "Ha ha! Uniform. Of course! Nice one, Wilfred!" She grabbed at her long red hair, pulling it up into a quick bun on the top of her head. "C'mon!"

And they were off once more, sprinting up the stairs as fast as they could. No one moved to stop them, Amy's presence in the lead doing just what Wilf had hoped it would and clearing a path but any victory they may have felt at their plan's success dissipated the moment they arrived on the first floor where the coma ward was housed.

"Oh god..." Amy whispered, looking around even as they kept walking.

"Blimey..." Wilf added.

The whole floor was in disarray. There were overturned medical carts lining the corridor, papers strewn all over and even a few beds had their blankets and pillows thrown about. The crowd downstairs was right, something had obviously happened and Wilfred had the sinking feeling that he knew what it was. Prisoner Zero was here. He was about to voice these thoughts when a woman stepped out from around a corner, cutting them off and bringing them to a halt. She had two young girls with her, one clinging to each of her hands.

"Officer," said the mother quickly, staring at Amy.

"What happened?" the redhead asked, staring at each face in concern.

"There was a man," the mother explained, but something about her voice made the hairs on the back of Wilf's neck stand on end, "A man with a dog. I think Doctor Ramsden's dead. And the nurses."

The elderly man narrowed his eyes. "What else? Did you see him do the killin'?" he asked suspiciously.

The mother and her two children turned to face him in unison, all of them tilting their heads slightly at the question. "No," came the reply, "That would have been horrible." But the slight smile on her face didn't match the statement at all.

Wilfred glanced towards his two companions. Rory was listening to the mother's tale with wide eyes while Amy was on the phone with the Doctor, explaining to him that Prisoner Zero was at the hospital with them. Standing right in front of them, more like it, the old human corrected mentally but he was unable to voice the thought yet again as the mother spoke up once more.

"He was so angry," she continued to explain, but something was really wrong this time. It was the elder of the two children whose mouth was moving yet the mother's voice which spoke, "He kept shouting and shouting. And that dog. The size of that dog."

Wilfred carefully took both Rory and Amy's hands and began pulling them backwards and away from the family.

"I swear it was rabid. And he just went mad, attacking everyone," the child continued, still in an adult's voice, "Where did he go, did you see? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies."

"C'mon..." Wilf hissed, tugging the young couple even further away.

"Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I?" said the creature suddenly, this time from the mother's mouth once more, "I'm always doing that. So many mouths." And all three faces opened those aforementioned mouths wide to the telltale needle-like teeth.

"Oh, my God!" Rory yelped, jumping back.

"Run!" Wilf shouted, giving their hands a final pull.

And run they did, as fast as they could, into the coma ward with the creature hot on their heels. Amy and Rory pulled the double doors shut behind them and Wilfred grabbed a push broom and shoved it through the handles to hold the doors closed. Hopefully. Maybe. For a bit. The trio backed slowly away while mumbling from the redhead's mobile reminded everyone that the Doctor was still on the line.

With a shaking hand Amy raised the device to her ear. "We're in the coma ward, but it's here. It's getting in." There was a pause in which they continued backing up and then, "What, sorry?"

"What's he on about?" Wilfred asked tensely, keeping his eyes fixed on the door which was now perilously close to breaking open.

"Wants to know which window we are," Amy muttered before doing a quick count of the windows and speaking into the phone, "First floor, on the left, fourth from the end."

The snapping of wood alerted them to the fact that the broom had finally given up and they all watched in horror as the doors swung outwards to reveal Prisoner Zero, still in the form of the human family with its teeth barred.

"Oh, dear," it spoke calmly, still using the mother's face and voice, "Little Amelia Pond. I've watched you grow up." The creature stepped across the threshold and began walking slowly towards them, obviously taking pleasure in the fear it was causing, "Twelve years, and you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor to return. But not this time, Amelia." And the needle-like teeth were bared once more.

Of course Amy's mobile chose that moment to beep out a text alert. The redhead glanced at it and Wilfred saw her eyes go big before she sized both he and Rory by the shoulder and forced them to the ground. Just in time too. They were barely down and out of the way when the window behind them smashed, glass raining down all around them and stopping Prisoner Zero in its tracks. Wilf risked a look over his shoulder and saw a fire ladder, the sort one would find on a fire engine, poking in through the now open window.

And monkey crawling along the ladder and into the room was none other than the Doctor. "Right!" he said brightly, couching down behind the three humans and clapping them each on the back in turn, "Hello. Am I late?" He stood up abruptly, glancing at the clock on the wall. "No, three minutes to go. So still time."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" said Prisoner Zero coldly, drawing their attention back to it.

The Doctor took a few steps towards her and though Wilfred couldn't see his face, his body language radiated confidence. "Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."

"The Atraxi will kill me this time," the creature smiled grimly, "If I am to die, let there be fire."

"Okay," the Doctor laughed humourlessly, "You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave."

Prisoner Zero tilted all three heads. "I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from?" the creature scoffed, "You don't, do you?" A taunting smile appeared on the mother's face ever as her voice changed to that of a child. "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know! Doesn't know! Doesn't know!" And then the adult's voice was back, just as cold as before. "The universe is cracked. Time bleeds and he knocks still. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

Wilfred felt the colour drain out of his face. He knocks still? But that was him, wasn't it? The one who knocked four times. The one who, for all intents and purposes, killed the Doctor. Was he destined to be the cause of his friend's death yet again, is that what the prisoner meant? He didn't think he could take that…

But the Time Lord didn't seem troubled by the cryptic statement in the slightest, in fact he didn't appear to have been paying any attention at all, his eyes focused instead on the same clock as before. "And we're off!" he said with a smile, glancing pointedly towards the timepiece, "Look at that. Look at that!"

Shaking his head, the elderly human forced himself to do as he was told. To his surprise he was met with the sight of a clock which read 0:00.

"Yeah, I know, just a clock," the Doctor continued, "Whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is Zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" He reached into his pocket and produced Rory's mobile phone, "The source, by the way, is right here."

Right on cue a blinding white light appeared outside, shining in through all the windows. Wilf grabbed hold of his two fellow humans' hands once more and pulled them away from everything, the Doctor, Prisoner Zero and the light. Then came the sound of something moving overhead and the trio exchanged looks before poking their heads out of the furthest window from the action. Hanging in the sky above the hospital was one of the Atraxi's ships, its giant eyeball casting the beam on light into the room.

"Oh! And I think they just found us!" the Time Lord grinned.

Prisoner Zero seemed less than pleased but stood its ground all the same. "The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Yeah," the Doctor conceded, though he still looked very pleased with himself, "But this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here." He grinned again and tapped the mobile's screen a few times, "Oooh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare. Who da man?" he asked, spreading his arms wide. Silence. Wilf shook his head and sighed while Amy gave him a pained look and the Time Lord dropped his arms again, "Oh, I'm never saying that again. Fine."

"Then I shall take a new form," said the creature, tilting the heads of all three family members slightly to one side.

"Oh, stop it," the Doctor scoffed, "You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"Oh no…" Wilfred whispered as a horrible thought wormed its way into his head. Prisoner Zero had lived in Amy's house for twelve years, it had watched her grow up…

The creature smiled. "And I've had years."

"Doctor!" Wilf shouted in warning.

But it was too late. As Prisoner Zero began glowing an eerie red, Amy collapsed and Rory and Wilfred dropped to their knees next to her.

"No!" the Doctor was by her side in a heartbeat, kneeling next to the two humans as he placed his hands on either side of the redhead's face, "Amy? You've got to hold on. Amy? Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

"Doctor," said Rory suddenly, and the elderly human followed his gaze to the spot where Prisoner Zero stood.

The multiform had transformed, but not into Amy, as Wilf thought it would but instead into the Doctor himself complete with his ripped and mangled clothing.

"Well, that's rubbish," said the Time Lord, who, like the others, was staring at the creature's new form, "Who's that supposed to be?"

"That'd be you, Doctor," Wilfred replied.

"Me?" the alien looked down at himself in surprise, "Is that what I look like?"

"You don't know?" Rory asked, confusion etched clearly on his face.

"Busy day," the Doctor shrugged before focusing on Prisoner Zero instead, "Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not." The reply came in a little girl's voice with a Scottish accent dripping off her words and as they watched a red haired child stepped out from behind the duplicate Doctor. "Poor Amy Pond," the creature continued speaking through the younger Amy, "Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

The Time Lord stared for a moment. "No," he said at last, "She's dreaming about me because she can hear me." And with that he turn his attention back to the fallen redhead and placed his hands on her face once more. "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy, dream about what you saw."

"Dream about the giant worm, Amy!" Wilf added, catching on to the Doctor's plan. He wasn't sure if he was really helping but it sure made him feel better.

"No," Prisoner Zero cried, "No. No!" But the transformation had already begun, the prisoner was glowing red once more and a few moments later, as the glow dissipated, it hung in its true form before them. The massive worm-like creature from Amelia's house.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero," said the Time Lord, ignoring a roar from the creature, "A perfect impersonation of yourself."

The white light from the Atraxi's focused on the multiform before the creature could hope to move, pinning it in place while it writhed angrily. "_Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained_."

Finally giving up its struggle the worm fixed its gaze on the Doctor. "Silence, Doctor," it hissed and then, to Wilfred's complete surprise, it turned its head so that its alien eyes were boring into his human ones instead and spoke once more, "Silence will fall." And then, with a rush of wind, Prisoner Zero was gone.

The old human's eyes remained fixed on the spot where it had hung, even as the Doctor ran over to one of the windows and peered out at the sky, and even as Rory asked one panicked question after another. The prisoner had spoken to him, directly to him, and a feeling of cold dread settled into the pit of his stomach at the thought. Why? It was only when Amy woke up again that he tuned back into the world around him.

"Amy," the relief in the young nurse's voice was evident as he helped his girlfriend sit up slowly, "Are you okay? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" the redhead asked.

"He did it. The Doctor did it."

But the Doctor, who was still fiddling with Rory's mobile phone, cut the praise short. "No, I didn't."

Taking a deep breath and pushing Prisoner Zero's words well and truly out of his head for the time being, Wilfred gestured to the phone. "What are you doing?"

"Tracking the signal back," the Time Lord explained before glancing up at Rory, "Sorry in advance," he added.

"About what?" The nurse sounded understandably suspicious.

The Doctor grimaced. "The bill." Rory groaned audibly but the Time Lord already had the mobile up to his ear, "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now." He hung up and tossed the phone back to its owner. "Okay, now I've done it."

"Did he just bring them back?" the nurse asked, his voice bordering on hysterical as his girlfriend clambered back to her feet, "Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?"

But no one answered him. Wilfred and Amy were too busy hurrying to keep up to the Doctor and the Time Lord himself, well, Wilf couldn't speak for his reasons though he suspected Rory was simply being ignored. They caught up to the alien as he was walking back down the same corridor in which they'd first met Prisoner Zero.

"Where are you going?" Amy demanded.

"The roof," the Doctor replied, "No, hang on." And he swung off into a side room without warning.

The three humans followed him, exchanging glances in the process, and found themselves in the hospital's locker room.

"What's in here?" Wilf asked, looking around.

"I'm saving the world," the Time Lord reminded them unnecessarily as he began picking up various items of clothing from around the room and throwing the ones he didn't like over his shoulder, "I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show. Wilf," he added, giving his companion a quick once over, "You may want to see if anything catches your fancy as well."

The elderly man glanced down at this once pristine suit which was now tattered, much like the Doctor's, and still rather damp and conceded the point with a shrug. "Aye… Have you come by any jumpers?"

The Doctor grinned, tossing him a dark green jumper and a pair of tan slacks.

"Ta," Wilf snatched up the clothes, hurried off to one side of the room and turned his back on the group in an attempt to find some sort of privacy while he changed.

The Time Lord, it seemed, didn't bother looking for privacy if Rory's reaction was anything to go on. "You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off!" The nurse cried, before adding more quietly, "Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you."

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know," Rory continued then glanced at his girlfriend, "Are you not going to turn your back?"

"Nope," Amy grinned.

Five minutes and one extremely flustered Rory later the group found themselves on their way up to the roof of the hospital. Wilfred's new clothes were slightly too big but he couldn't bring himself to care, he'd forgotten how nice being fully dry felt. The Doctor's outfit wasn't quite complete, he'd found himself a new shirt and trousers and had braces hanging around his waist but had yet to decide on a tie as several of them were draped around his neck.

"So this was a good idea, was it?" Amy asked doubtfully as they emerged onto the rooftop and came face to face with one of the Atraxi ships hovering overhead, "They were leaving…"

"Leaving is good, never coming back is better," the Time Lord replied, taking a few extra steps forward and addressing the ship, "Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now."

"Oh my word," said Wilf softly, "As if that wasn't creepy enough…"

The giant eyeball had dropped from the center of the ship at the Doctor's words, coming to rest directly in front of the Time Lord and scanning him from head to foot. "You are not of this world," it decided.

"No," the Doctor pulled his braces up over his shoulders, "But I've put a lot of work into it." He looked down at his selection of ties and held one up to the eye. "Oh, hmm, I don't know. What do you think?"

Amy caught Wilfred's eye and they shared a smirk at the alien's antics.

"Is this world important?" the Atraxi ship asked, ignoring the fashion question.

"Important?" the Time Lord repeated, "What's that mean, important?" He pulled off one of his many ties and tossed it over his shoulder towards them and Rory caught it. "Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" Another tie came flying their way. "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The Atraxi didn't respond straight away, instead a projection of the earth as a whole appeared between the eyeball and the Doctor. Images of humanity flashed across it in rapid succession before the ship finally replied, "No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

More images played and once again the response was the same. "No."

"Okay," the Doctor continued, turning up his collar and beginning to fasten his remaining tie, "One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many."

This time the projection showed a variety of monsters, some, like the Daleks and Cybermen, Wilfred recognized while others he'd never seen before.

"And what you've got to ask," the Time Lord continued, "Is, what happened to them?"

A series of faces flashed across the projected globe and it wasn't until the last one, with his spiky 'modern' hair and his big, dark eyes, that Wilf realized that he'd just seen ever face the Doctor had ever worn and he found himself wishing that he could have studied them longer.

But the projection flickered and died as the Time Lord stepped through it, his bowtie done up, a smile on his face and sporting a tweed jacket. "Hello," he said calmly, "I'm the Doctor. Basically, run."


	8. Spacey Is Cool

_**Author's Note:**_

_So, I have to say that this is my favourite chapter up to this point. It was an absolute blast to write and I've been super excited to put it up ever since I got it finished! Of course, it wasn't even really in the plan. The scene was there but it was just meant to be a quick part of a larger chapter but then two old friends got chatting and they just wouldn't stop. The result was the most fun I've had writing anything in a long time so I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do!_

_Oh, a quick note of updates. I think it's probably going to be another two week gap between chapters. I blame life. I work. And goats. (-_-) Oh well..._

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

_**Chapter Eight**_

_Spacey is Cool_

Watching the Atraxi's ship disappear back into space Wilfred couldn't help but laugh. The Doctor had done it again. They all had. The world was safe once more, at least for the time being, but even that last thought couldn't dampen the old man's spirits. Beside him Amy was sharing his reaction, laughing outright in amazement while Rory just stared at the sky in awe and confusion. Wilf chuckled, taking pity on the poor kid and was just reaching out to clap him on the shoulder in support when a hand sized him firmly by the wrist and he was tugged away from the young couple and back the way they had come.

"Doctor!" the elderly man cried as he was pulled, at a speed much faster than he was comfortable with, down a flight of stairs, back through the first floor, down a second flight of stairs and into the hospital lobby, "Stop! Where are going? We can't just leave them kids up there! Doctor!"

But the Time Lord didn't reply and nor did he stop, leading them instead out the front door of the hospital and off across the lawn. "New TARDIS key!" he shouted over his shoulder, grinning like a child who'd been told Christmas had come early, "She's finished!"

"Whoa ho, no," said Wilf as he caught on to the alien's intentions, "No we are not runnin' all the way back to the TARDIS. I can't, Doctor, I'm sorry." And it was true, his old body just couldn't do what it once had and the adrenaline which had kept him going since he'd left the aforementioned ship was fading now that all imminent danger had passed allowing every bump and bruise he'd accumulated during their crash to come back in full force.

The Doctor brought them skidding to a halt and turned to face his companion, looking him up and down in concern. "Are you alright?"

Wilfred laughed a bit breathlessly. "I'm fine, just not used to all this running, is all."

The Time Lord frowned, glanced around the front of the building then his face slipped into a wide grin. "Oh!"  
And with he grabbed Wilf's wrist once more and pulled him off to one side towards a few spare wheelchairs. "In you get, Wilf! No time to lose!"

Opening his mouth to protest against being treated like an invalid, the old human shut it again with a snap at the sight of the big, hopeful eyes the ancient child was sending his way. His ancient child, who was trying his hardest to help... "Oh alright," he grumbled, smiling in spite of himself as he lowered his battered body into the chair, "But Donna'd better not hear about this!"

Flashing him another grin the Doctor took hold of the handles and they were off once more, flying off down the road at a speed the elderly man doubted the wheelchair was really meant for. They bounced across the park where the spaceship had first appeared, past the duck-less luck pond, and back up the main street; then skidded past the ice cream truck, back up the village lane and into Amelia's back yard before finally coming to a halt in front of the magical blue box. Wilfred, who had been gripping the sides of the chair so tightly that his knuckles had gone white since his ride began, realised them slowly and stood up much to the displeasure of his aging joints.

The Time Lord, who didn't even seem out of breath after his latest run, stepped out from behind the wheelchair and bounced up to the wooden door. "Okay, what have you got for me this time?" he asked his ship, a little half-smile turning up the corners of his mouth as he retrieved the key from his jacket pocket, slipped it into the lock and pushed the door open. "Look at you," he whispered in awe as he stepped inside, "Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you."

Wilfred followed his lead and stepped into the police box as well, staring about in awe. It was still the TARDIS, he could see that much, but like her pilot the old ship had undergone a drastic change. The coral structures were gone and the console room was brighter than he'd ever seen it, coloured with orange and gold. The floor around the console was made of glass, revealing the inner workings of the ship below, and two sets of stairs climbed upwards and disappeared into the depths of the time machine. And then there was the console itself. Wilf had never understood how any of the former controls worked but even if he had it would be no help now. The ship had seemingly patched herself together with only what she could find but somehow it suited this new, playful Doctor to a T.

"It's beautiful," the old human mused out loud, turning to smile at the alien next to him.

The Time Lord smiled back, a smaller, more genuine smile than Wilf was used to seeing, his eyes alight with happiness. "She always is." He looked around once more and then was off, bounding towards the console as though he just couldn't stand to be away from it any longer and pushing and pulling at the controls as he danced around it. "Alright, Wilfred! We're off!"

The old human frowned at that. "Off?" he questioned, "Off where? We can't just leave. What about Amy? She waited all those years for you, the least you can do is say goodbye."

But the Doctor just grinned. "Oh don't you worry about little Amelia Pond," he said cheerfully, "I'll pick her up before she even knows we've left, just gotta drop you back home first. It's Donna's wedding reception after all!" And with that he pulled a final lever and the ship began to pulse happily around them as it dematerialized.

Home... Well, it was what he'd been thinking about, wasn't it? Going home. Being too old for this sort of life. And now he wouldn't actually have to tell his friend as much... Wilfred shook his head. The Doctor would be fine, he'd have Amy to keep him company now – presuming, of course, that she still wanted to come and the Time Lord didn't missing picking her up by another twelve years – he'd be fine. They both would. The old human heaved a heavy sigh but was prevented from following the thoughts any further by a sudden lack of movement.

"Here we go!" said the Doctor brightly, scampering to the TARDIS doors and peering out of them, "Home sweet home."

Wilf stepped slowly towards the alien and followed his lead, poking his head out the door and staring around. Donna's wedding stared back at him, the exact same wedding, the extra same day and, unless he was very much mistaken, only a few minutes after they'd left what felt like a lifetime ago. Gazing around at the scene the old man couldn't help but smile and he turned back to his alien friend. "Do me a favour, Doctor," he said fondly, letting the moment carry him, "If this really is goodbye then do something for me."

The Time Lord glanced back at him with a carefree expression. "Shoot."

"Say goodbye to her."

The Doctor's face fell. They both knew precisely who the old human was talking about. "Wilf..." he said slowly, "I can't, you know I can't..."

Wilfred nodded. "Aye, I know you couldn't," he agreed, the small smile still playing on his face, "But like you said, brand new you and all that, she won't know you..." He gestured across the lawn to where the wedding party was still gathered. "Go on, Doctor. Just run over there and say goodbye properly. Please."

The Time Lord didn't reply right away, and Wilf allowed silence to take hold as the two men gazed towards the group together. Donna was corralling Shaun for something, oxtail soup if her grandfather remembered correctly, and Sylvia was bustling around them undoubtedly nagging about something or other. It was beautiful. It was home.

"Oh alright then," said the Doctor suddenly, stepping out of the TARDIS with purpose, "But on your head be it!"

Wilf grinned outright at that and hurried out after him, leading the way towards the wedding party.

It was Sylvia who first noticed their approach and her father was surprised to see a look of relief flash briefly across her face. But then, she had watched him chase a dying alien into an old wooden box which promptly disappeared so maybe the relief wasn't that surprising after all. The anger that quickly replaced it certainly wasn't. "And where the hell have you been!?" she shouted causing both Wilfred and the Doctor to freeze a few meters away and Shaun and Donna to stop and watch the scene, "You swan off in the middle of your granddaughter's wedding! What reason can you possibly dream up for that!?"

Shooting a look back over his shoulder at the alien a few steps behind him whose eyes had gone impossibly wide, the elderly man chuckled. "Went for a quick walk," he explained, turning back to his daughter, "Had to stretch out them legs at bit."

Sylvia scoffed. "A walk," she repeated doubtfully but glanced at Donna out of the corner of her eye and let the subject drop in favour of another, "What on Earth are you wearing?"

Wilf glanced looked down at his 'borrowed' clothes. "A jumper."

His response was met with his daughter's best glare. "Well it's not one of yours," she snapped, "Where did it come from?"

"Oh give it a rest, Mum," Donna cut in, saving her grandfather from having to explain his newfound clothes, "When have you ever known Gramps to wear a suit for more than an hour?"

"That's no excuse..." Sylvia continued heatedly, "It's your wedding..."

But Wilf tuned her out with a practiced ease and turned his attention to Shaun instead. The dark skinned man seemed to be the only one who had noticed the Doctor's presence and he offered the retreating alien a kind smile. "It's alright, they're always like that," he said by way of greeting, "I don't think we've met, you weren't at the wedding, were you?"

"Uhh..." said the Time Lord uncertainly, glancing around before shaking his head, "No. No I wasn't. I'm a friend of Wilfred's, by the way, John Smith." He stepped forward and held out his hand.

"Shaun Temple-Noble," came the reply as the two men shook hands, "And over there's my new wife Donna and her mother Sylvia."

The women in question cut off their continuing argument at the sound of their names and made their way over to where the men had gathered. Sylvia was peering at the alien suspiciously while Donna just smiled at him.

"Donna," Shaun continued, "Mrs. Noble – "

"What have I told you about that, Shaun?"

"Sorry," the new husband smiled sheepishly, "Donna, Sylvia, this is John Smith, a friend of Mr. Mott's." The last part was added with a cheeky smile in Wilf's direction.

The old man rolled his eyes despite the fact that he was smiling.

"A friend of Dad's?" Sylvia repeated, glaring at the Time Lord, "I don't know you."

The Doctor glanced quickly at Donna before fixing his gaze on her mother. "We've met before, Sylvia," he said softly.

Watching his daughter's eyes go wide with realization, Wilf decided he'd better step in. "I ran into John on my walk," he told the group, "And thought he might as well meet the happy couple!" He grinned and danced his way up to Donna and Shaun goofily.

The redhead snorted with laughter but otherwise ignored her grandfather's antic, focusing on the Doctor instead. "Love the bowtie," she teased, folding her arms over her chest, "Very..." she cast around for the right word and smiled when she settled on it, "Spacey."

Wilfred's breath caught in his throat. He'd thought that everything was going well but maybe the Doctor had been right about this being a bad idea after all. He was just starting to panic when a crooked, happy, smile appeared on the Time Lord's face.

"Spacey, eh?" he asked, and got a nod in confirmation, "Well I can live with spacey. Spacey's cool."

"Spacey's not cool, you prawn," Donna laughed.

"Oi!" the Doctor cried out indignantly but he was grinning all the same, they both were.

"Donna..." Shaun reprimanded gently and both his wife and the alien jumped as though they'd forgotten there was anyone else there, "You've only just met the man, go easy on 'im!"

"Oh," the redhead blinked, "I have, haven't I? Blimey, sorry..."

"No, no," the Time Lord cut in quickly, waving a hand, "It's alright, it's more than alright... It's been a while since anybody had a go at me like that, suppose you could say I missed it..."

"Well, Donna'll be more than happy to fill that void," Shaun grinned, elbowing his wife gently.

The aforementioned wife gave her husband a good smack on the shoulder before turning back to the Doctor. "Missed it, eh?" she asked, "You're a strange little man, you know that?"

The Time Lord raised one eyebrow with a smile. "Thought I was 'spacey?'" he quipped playfully.

Donna looked him up and down before nodding. "That you are," she agreed, then smiled again, "Well c'mon then, John Smith, let's have a proper conversation. What do you do for a living?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Oh, you know, bit of this, bit of that," he said offhandedly.

"Bit of nothin' then," Donna translated.

"Maybe. But I'll have you know that I'm travelling."

"Yeah? Travelling where?"

The Time Lord smiled. "Wherever I like. Gotta make it interesting."

"Well, no wonder you and Gramps get on then," said Donna innocently, gesturing towards Wilf as she spoke, "He's always wanted to get out there and travel..."

Former companion and Time Lord stared at each other for a moment before the Doctor smirked. "Donna Temple-Noble, are you implying something?"

"Why yes, John Smith, I think I am."

"Now hold on," Wilfred spoke up, trying to frown even while his heart swelled with pride. Donna was letting him go, letting him follow his dream. The old Donna, the woman she'd been before the Doctor entered her life, would never have even considered it, let alone try to make it happen. Even if she couldn't remember it her travels had changed her and Wilf couldn't have been happier about it.

"Now hold on is right!" Sylvia added, fixing her daughter with a glare, "You can't just go around pawning your grandfather off on the first bloke who strikes your fancy!"

"Pawning?" Donna demanded, "Who's pawning? Gramps has been wantin' to travel since you were a little girl and you know it!"

"He's far too old, it's time he settled down and took life easy."

"Oh go on, Sylvia, a man's got to have the chance to live," Shaun piped up, "I'd go myself if I could afford it."

Wilfred stared at the group with a smile that was growing wider and wider by the second. He remembered his excitement when the Doctor, the old Doctor, had reappeared at Donna's wedding and he'd thought that maybe, just maybe he could stand among the stars one more time. And maybe he still could. He had Donna's blessing, and Shaun's and Sylvia would come 'round, she always did. And unless he was very much mistaken, even the Time Lord himself was smiling. "Guess you can't get rid of me that easy, John," the old man smiled back.

"You sure, Wilf?" the Doctor asked, staring him straight in the eyes.

"I'm sure." And he was. He was going to see the stars and run from monsters and meet aliens and be the Doctor's best mate in place of his granddaughter, in her honor. "Someone needs to look out for you kids."

The Time Lord rolled his eyes and Wilf could see him fighting the urge to point out that he was, in actual fact, the oldest one out of all of them. "Alright then," he said instead, "Well, come along then!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up," the elderly man chuckled, holding up one hand, "I've still got to pack and say my goodbyes..." At the Doctor's blank face he chuckled again. "Tell ya what, you go get Amy and then pick me up at my place this evening, alright?" he suggested, "And don't be late 'cause I'll be waitin' for you."

The alien nodded quickly. "Yes, alright. No being late..." he smiled.

"Lovely to meet you, John," Shaun stepped forward and shaking the Time Lord's hand once more, "But we really ought to be going, still our wedding day after all!"

"Oxtail soup!" Donna shouted suddenly, "What did you lot let me forget for!? C'mon..." And with that she seized both her husband and grandfather by the hand and tugged them back in the direction of the chapel. "Say goodbye to your friend Gramps, you'll see him tonight!"

Wilfred glanced over his shoulder as he was dragged forcibly away, grinning. "I appear to be leaving!" he called, "Don't be late!"

The Doctor just grinned and chuckled as he turned away.


	9. Space, the Final Frontier

_**Author's Note:**_

_Ha ha! Look! An update, and earlier than I expected too! Not sure exactly when I'll get a chance to get the next chapter up but it won't be until at least this coming weekend, and the weekend after that at the latest… It all depends on work…_

_Now, enough talking and let's get on with the show! Oh, and please, please, if you're enjoying the story (or if you think there are things I need to work on) let me know! Also, I will answer any questions you may have and take any suggestions into consideration so feel free to drop me a review and ask away!  
_

_And to those of you who have left a review, thank you, thank you, thank you! Hog Draconis in particular gets a special mention for being my most consistent reviewer. You're awesome and I hope you continue to enjoy! _

_Happy Reading!_

* * *

_**Chapter Nine**_

_Space, the Final Frontier..._

By the time the sun disappeared below the horizon and evening rolled in, Wilfred Mott knew he'd made the right decision. He hadn't felt this excited since watching Donna fly away to touch the stars in the same blue he would soon be calling home. The old man grinned at the thought. If his granddaughter's stories were anything to go by there was so much out there he'd get to see. Other places. Other planets. Other times. And all the aliens he'd believed in even when no one else did. The thought that he had almost allowed this opportunity to pass him by seemed absurd now in his exhilaration.

"Cuppa for the road?" Donna's voice pulled him from his thoughts as she appeared behind him, stepping into his bedroom with the aforementioned cup of tea steaming in her hands. She was still sporting her wedding dress and veil and appeared to be slightly tipsy, her eyes shining just a bit too brightly as she grinned at him.

"Ta," Wilf replied, taking the cup from her before any harm could befall it (or the dress as a result) and taking a sip, "Now, what are you doin' back here? Eh?" he asked, his grin matching that of his granddaughter, "It's your wedding night! Find that new husband of yours and off with ya!"

The redhead smirked. "As if Mum wantin' grandchildren wasn't bad enough, now I got you on me too!" She laughed just a little too loud.

"Now just you wait," the old man exclaimed, waving one finger at the new bride and attempting to keep the smile off his face, "That was not at all what I was implying!"

"I'll bet it wasn't!"

But neither of them could keep up the act any longer and they both began laughing in earnest which caused Donna stumbled slightly. Setting down his tea, her grandfather guided her gently to the edge of his bed and they sat down side by side, both still chuckling.

"That friend of yours," said Donna after the laughter had died down, "John Smith or whatever his name is, the one you're going travelin' with, you're sure I don't know him?"

_Yes, you do_, Wilfred thought sadly as he swallowed the urge to just give in and tell her as much if only so that he would no longer have to lie to her. But no, he couldn't do that. And he never would. So he lied. "No Sweetheart," he said softly, fighting to keep the sudden sadness out of his voice, "You two had never met before today."

"Hhmm," his granddaughter sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder with a small smile, "Feels like we have…" Her smile grew, "He's a good bloke, though, I think…"

"Aye," Wilf agreed, "He is that… He is that…"

They sat like that awhile, just a grandfather with his one and only grandchild resting happily on his shoulder, until Donna shifted slightly and pulled away to grin at him once more. "You excited?" she asked, her glittering with a combination of playfulness and drink.

Wilf grinned back. "Like you couldn't believe."

A raised eyebrow and incredulous look were sent his way as his granddaughter gestured to her current outfit. "Hello? Wedding day."

The elderly man laughed. "Fair enough."

The sound of someone knocking on the front door interrupted any further conversation and Wilfred felt a strange tingling sensation work its way from his head all the way down to his toes. It was time to go. Time to see the stars. Fueled by his exhilaration he reached out and pulled Donna into a tight hug, just as he had when she was a child, or an angst filled teen or a heartbroken woman who'd just lost her father or a savior of worlds come back home for a tea and biscuits. "You take care of your Mum now," he said gently, "And make sure that new husband of yours does right by you or he'll have your old Gramps to answer to, no matter where I am!"

The redhead released the embrace after a moment and held him at arms' length. "We'll be fine, Gramps, so long as you don't forget about us while you're out there in the big, bright world…" Her voice trailed off and her eyes went distant, as though she were searching for a memory she just couldn't quite reach but a moment later the look was gone and she was smiling brightly again. "You just remember to keep in touch and take care of yourself, ya hear? I don't want any phone calls tellin' me you've fallen off a camel and broken your neck or something just as stupid!"

Wilfred laughed but the knocking rang out from the front door once more, a reminder that the Doctor was still out there, waiting, before he could respond.

"I'm not getting that!" Sylvia shouted over the noise from some other part of the house, her voice loud enough that Wilf was sure she could be heard outside, "I don't want anything to do with your insane plan!"

Grandfather and granddaughter exchanged grins and the younger of the two stood up. "I'll get it," she decided before making her way slightly unsteadily out of the room.

Wilf watched her go before taking a deep breath and standing to collect the duffle bags he'd packed the moment he and Sylvia had returned home from the wedding reception. With a bag in each hand he moved to the door, stopping only briefly to glance back at the room that had been his home on Earth since his son-in-law died, before heading towards the front door.

"Oh, here he comes! About time too!" Donna's voice bombarded him the moment the door came into view. She was leaning against the open door and grinned back at him while the Doctor stood on the front step, a crocked little smile playing on his face.

"You ready?" the Time Lord asked, his voice unusually soft.

Smiling slightly in his own right, the old man nodded. "Absolutely."

The Doctor grinned brightly, his hyperactive personality reappearing in full force. "Well c'mon then!" He clapped his hands together eagerly and hopped from one foot to the other as though he was physically unable to stay still.

Wilfred laughed. "Alright, alright…" he chuckled, pausing on his way out and setting down his bags so he could give Donna another quick hug. "Love you, Sweetheart," he said gently as he pulled away, "Always."

"Love you too, Gramps," the redhead smiled back.

"See, now I know you're drunk," Wilf teased, scooping up the bags again.

Donna swatted him playfully on the arm and sent him the best rendition of her trademark glare she could manage at her current level of inebriation. "Go on. Get out of here," she laughed, pushing him lightly out the door and into the cool evening air.

* * *

By the time they stepped into the TARDIS, (which the Doctor had parked a few streets away) Wilfred was bouncing almost as much as the Doctor, a goofy grin lighting up his whole face. Amy was waiting for them just inside the ship with her arms folded tightly over her chest as though she couldn't quite decide what to do with them, and the moment the door opened she poked her head outside.

"We moved," she laughed, pulling her head back inside and snapping the door shut as she stared from one man to the other in amazement, "We actually moved."

Wilf chuckled as he hauled his bags over to the base of the stairs. "That's what I said the first time," he reminisced fondly, setting down his luggage and smiling back at the girl only to catch sight of what she was wearing. "Are you in your nightie?"

But Amy was taking deep breaths and didn't answer. "But what about space…" she said, her voice laced with an odd mix and doubt and excitement, "You said this thing can fly in space too…"

The Doctor, who had already bounced up to the console, grinned brightly. "Your wish is my command, Amelia Pond," he took off around the console, dancing about the controls and hitting buttons and levers seemingly at random and causing the TARDIS to begin pulsing around them. "Well, sometimes. Now and then. On special occasions." He flashed them another blinding grin and pulled on final lever, bringing the ship to a stop before dashing back to the door and leaning his back against it. "Here we are then," he said softly, his eyes dancing in the light of the console room, "Amelia Pond, do you know what I keep in here?"

"What?" the redhead breathed, looking, if possible, even more excited than her host.

The Time Lord smiled, pulling the door open as he replied. "Absolutely everything."

Wilfred felt his breath catch in his throat. He may have found himself in space once before but this… He abandoned his duffle bags and hurried to Amy's side, joining her as she stared out the open door into the inky darkness of space, punctuated thousands of times by stars which formed constellations he'd never seen in all his years of stargazing.

"Anything take your fancy?" the Doctor asked from behind them.

Amy spun around but Wilf kept his gaze focused on the stars which surrounded them, trying to commit each and every one to memory. He wondered if the Doctor knew all of their names…

"We're in space," the redhead whispered.

"Yep," the Time Lord confirmed, "That's space."

"But it can't be!"

"But it is..." Wilf breathed.

Amy didn't seem to hear him, either that or she couldn't process the response through her shock. "But it's like, it's like, it's like, special effects," she argued, trying desperately to rationalize what she was seeing.

"Like what?" the Doctor asked, sounding somewhat affronted at the accusation.

"Is so, isn't it?" the redhead continued, ignoring her host completely, "It's not real."

There was a pause and then… "Get out," said the Doctor softly and Wilf could just _hear_ him smiling.

"What?" Amy demanded.

"Now, seriously, get out!"

"Doctor!" said Wilf sharply as he turned to face them, but it was too late.

The Time Lord gave her a quick shove and with a slight shriek Amy went flying out the open door. Biting back a groan, the old man leaned out the doorway to help the alien grab a hold of their younger companion before her momentum sent her floating out into space.

"Having fun up there?" the Doctor laughed, shooing Wilfred's hands away and allowing the redhead to float up above the TARDIS, held in place only by his hand on her ankle.

But Amy didn't reply, joining him instead in his laughter and staring around in awe, her hair floating around her head like a huge, red mane.

Wilf stared up at the floating girl, allowing the wonder of the moment to wash over him and fill him up for a few seconds before his parental instincts kicked in again. "I think that's enough now, Doctor," he said gently, still unable to keep the smile from his face.

Glancing back at the old man, the Time Lord conceded the point with a shrug before turning back to Amy and giving her ankle a tug. "Come on, Pond." He pulled her easily back into the TARDIS, steadying her against himself as her feet touched down on the time machine's floor. "Now do you believe me?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Amy let out a breathless laugh. "Okay, your box is a spaceship. It's really, really a spaceship." She leaned out the door, still laughing. "We are in space!" she called out, her voice disappearing into the darkness, and then a thought seemed to occur to her and she turned back to the Doctor looking concerned, "What are we breathing?"

"I've extended the air shell. We're fine," the Time Lord explained carelessly, peering out the door himself and squatting down as something caught his eye, "Now that's interesting."

Following the Doctor's lead, Wilfred and Amy squatted down in the doorway and stared down at what could only be described as a city, floating in space. High-rise buildings bearing the names of large British cites sprung up side by side along the surface of a strangely pear-shaped, metal spaceship with a faded Union Flag painted along the side, every one of them with lights shining from their numerous window.

"Twenty ninth century, solar flares roast the earth, and the entire human race packs its bags and moves out till the weather improves," the Doctor continued brightly, pulling Wilfred out of his observations as he dashed back towards the console. The old human barely had time to pull Amy out of the way before the doors snapped shut. "Whole nations, migrating to the stars. Isn't that amazing?"

Wilf and Amy nodded, following their host towards the center console. "So this is the solution to that there Global Warming' then, is it?" the elderly man asked as they reached it, "Move out when the weather gets bad?"

The alien made a noise in the affirmative, gesturing out one of the round windows through which the floating city could still be seen. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. All of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal," a small smile creased his face and wonder lit up his eyes in the same way it did his companions' as he studied the sight, "That's not just a ship, that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and shopping. Searching the stars for a new home."

"I suppose that just goes to show ya, there's a new home out there for everyone if you look hard enough," Wilf smiled, giving the Doctor a pointed look.

The Time Lord sighed, still staring at the ship. "Maybe..."

Amy, who had continued to gaze out the ship even while the two men were talking, turned to the Doctor suddenly. "Can we go out and see?" she asked with a grin.

And that was all it took for the alien's happy-go-lucky persona to return in full force. "Course we can!" he said brightly, "But first, there's a thing."

The redhead blinked. "A thing?" she repeated questioningly, watching their host hurry off towards the center console of his ship once more before glancing at Wilf, "What's he on about?"

The old man simply shrugged and followed the Time Lord towards the console with Amy on his heels. There'd certainly been no 'thing' mentioned when he came aboard the first time, though there had been more important things at play at the time... "No idea..."

"An important thing," the Doctor continued seriously, apparently oblivious to his companions' conversation as he came to a stop in front of what Wilfred assumed was a scanner of some kind, "In fact, Thing One. We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in all my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets."

Wilf gave an incredulous snort. "You what?" he laughed.

"Oh, shut up, Wilf," the Doctor huffed, going so far as to fold his arms across his chest before something on the scanner caught his eye. "Oooh, that's interesting."

Both companions followed his gaze and studied the screen where the image of a young girl sitting alone on an uncomfortable looking bench stared back at them. She was crying, huddle in her bright red jacket with an air of helplessness that Wilfred hated to see in one so young, yet no one was helping her. Someone should stop, ask her what's the matter at least...

"So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?" Amy's voice pulled her fellow human from his thoughts and he glanced towards her, noting as he did so that she too was staring at the girl, "Because if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die. It's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard, being all, like, detached and cold?" She broke off abruptly, her eyes going wide and Wilf turned his gaze back to the scanner to see just what had caused her reaction. There, bending down in front of the tearful girl, was none other than – "Doctor?" the redhead asked.

The Time Lord turned, almost as though he heard her, and gestured at the screen for them to follow. Amy grinned and bounded towards TARDIS door while Wilf just smiled and shook his head.

"Here we go again," he muttered before hurrying to catch up.


	10. Unless There's Children Crying

_**Author's Note:**_

_Alright, here we are, yet another update. I don't have a lot to say about this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it all the same! _

_I do, however, have to say a quick something about updates... Work has been so hectic lately that I haven't been able to write anything since my last update. I already had this chapter done, I was just waiting to post it until I got a few chapters ahead again but that hasn't happened and I didn't want to leave you guys waiting for too long so I decided to put this one up. This means, however, that I have no idea how long the next update time will be. I have the day off today so hopefully I'll be able to get some writing done but that's assuming I don't get called in on an emergency basis should another one of our animals have a medical emergency. (-_-) Good times. Anyway, I will do my very best to get the next chapter up within the next two weeks and hopefully things will settle down at work soon. _

_Now, enough about me, let's get on with the story. As always, if you like it, hate, it, think it needs work or have a question or suggestion let me know! _

_**Happy Reading!**_

* * *

_**Chapter Ten**_

_Unless There's Children Crying_

Stepping out into Starship UK was like stepping into the not-too distant past with elements of future technology popping up here and there, most notably in the glass ceiling through which the same view they'd seen from the TARDIS door shone down. Inside the ship, however, was dirty and dank, and Wilfred found himself wondering if real spacecrafts were ever as sleek and shinny as in those Hollywood films... Even the cactuses' ship had given off an old, rather well-used vibe despite the obviously alien technology.

"I'm in the future." His train of thought was interrupted by Amy who was spinning around slowly, her eyes wide as saucers as she tried to take everything while making her way towards where the Doctor was waiting, "Like hundreds of years in the future." She paused suddenly, staring from Wilf to the Doctor with suddenly narrowed eyes, "I've been dead for centuries."

"Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one," the Time Lord sighed before taking both his companions by their respective elbows and leading them off into the ship, "Never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?"

Wrong? Wilf glanced around once more drinking in his surroundings in an attempt to figure out what their host was on about while Amy voiced his thought out loud. The only thing that seemed particularly strange to him were the creepy looking, ceramic men in the glass booths...

"Come on, use your eyes," said the Doctor as he led them still deeper into the ship's corridors, "Notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?"

"Is it the bicycles?" Amy suggested, as they were passed by one pulling a woman in a little carriage, "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles."

The Time Lord gestured over his shoulder at her carelessly. "Says the girl in the nightie."

"Oh my God, I'm in my nightie!" the redhead look mortified before turning on Wilf, "Why didn't you tell me!?"

Wilf shook his head, smiling slightly. "In my defense I did mention it."

The Doctor snickered but quieted as his younger companions gaze fell on him once more. "Now, come on, look around you," he said quickly, flapping his hands a bit more than was strictly necessary in his haste to head off an irritated redhead in a nightie, "Actually look."

_"London Market is a crime-free zone." _A woman's voice rang out from speakers overhead, interrupting the alien.

But the Time Lord didn't seem bothered by the interruption. "Life on a giant starship," he continued, "Back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me." And he shot off towards a couple sitting at the outdoor table of a diner leaving his companions blinking after him in the middle of the corridor.

Amy and Wilf exchanged confused looks before following him over to the table in time to see him snatch the man's glass of water.

"What are you doing?" the glass's owner demanded.

But the Doctor didn't reply. Instead he set the glass on the ground and stared at it. Wilf stared at it too but there was nothing to see, just a glass of water sitting on the floor of a spaceship.

"Sorry," the alien apologized after a brief moment, returning the glass tot's place on the table, "Checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish." He tapped his nose knowingly and turned back to his companions, "Where was I?"

"What was that you did just there?" the old man asked, gesturing towards the water while Amy nodded her agreement with the question.

"Don't know," the Doctor sounded thoughtful before grinning again, "I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state. Do you see it yet?"

Wilf rolled his eyes but Amy looked curious.

"Where?" she asked.

The Time Lord pointed off a little ways in front of them at the same little girl they'd seen on the TARDIS's scanner. She'd moved since then and was now sitting on that last off collection of uncomfortable looking metal benches, still crying. "There."

And with that he was off, walking purposefully towards the tearful child while his two companions hurried along behind him. Coming to a stop a few benches away from the weeping girl the Doctor took a seat, staring at her with his elbows propped up on his knees and his chin resting on his clasp hands, while Amy and Wilfred flopped down on either side of him.

"One little girl crying," said Amy, following the alien's gaze, "So?"

"Crying silently," the Time Lord corrected, turning to stare at the redhead with an uncharacteristically serious expression, "I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that."

"Are you a parent?" Amy asked curiously.

Wilf, who had leaning forward to watch the exchange, felt his heart clench as the Doctor froze at his younger companion's words. _Oh God..._ The old human shut his eyes briefly. How could he not have considered this? This was a man who was more than nine hundred years old, who'd lost his whole planet, his whole race, and the way he'd reacted to Amy's choice of profession...

"Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her," the alien continued abruptly, returning his attention to the child and looking decidedly shaken, "And not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

A group of people walked in front of them and when they'd passed the girl was gone.

"Hold on a minute," said Wilf, staring around but finding no sign of her, "Where'd she go?"

"Deck two-o-seven," the Doctor replied easily, glancing between his companions, "Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh!" He rummaged about in the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a brightly coloured wallet which he handed to Amy, "Er, this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her. Took me four goes. Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere. "

"But they're just things..."

"They're clean," said the Time Lord simply, "Everything else here is all battered and filthy. Look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Look. Ask Mandy, why are people scared of the things in the booths?"

"No, hang on," said Amy in exasperation, "What do I do? I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed!"

"Figure it out of course, Wilf'll help!" the Doctor grinned, "It's this or Leadworth. What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?"

They stared at each other for a moment before the redhead turned away, obviously fighting back a smile.

"Gotcha," their host laughed, before glancing at his wristwatch, "Now, you two, meet me back here in half an hour."

"What are you going to do?" Wilf asked curiously, wondering what else the Doctor had noticed in their brief time aboard the starship.

"What I always do," came the cheerful reply as the alien hopped back to his feet, "Stay out of trouble."

The elderly man snorted at the idea and received a glare for his trouble.

"Oh, shut up," the Time Lord grumbled but he was smiling all the same, "I'm sure I'll manage it this time." And with that he vaulted easily over the back of the bench and made to walk away before Amy's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"So is this how it works, Doctor?" she asked, spinning around on the bench to face him, "You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"

Her question was met with a crocked little smile. "Yes," the alien replied before turning to his older companion, "Look after her, Wilf." And then he was gone, disappeared into the crowded corridor.

Amy folded her arms across her chest and turned back in the direction young Mandy had headed, trying her best to hide a smirk. "Just so we're clear, I don't need looking after," she pointed out.

Wilfred smiled, remembering the many multitudes of times his girls had told him some variation of that phrase. "I know," he gestured off down the corridor, "Shall we?"

Amy grinned. "Let's go."

* * *

"So, what do we do once we find this kid?"

Wilfred, who had been studying the dingy metal corridor (which seemed to be called Dean Street if the signs were anything to go by) along which they were walking en route to Mandy's home, turned to his fellow companion and tilted his head. "Just what the Doctor said. We talk to her, ask her about the things in the booths and see if we can't help her," he replied.

Amy frowned. "I'm rubbish with kids," she admitted, fingering the sleeve of her nightie, "Always have been."

Choosing not to mention that she was, to him at least, still pretty near to being a kid herself, the old man smiled. "Not to worry," he said reassuringly, "I've had my fair share of practice."

The redhead smiled slightly. "How many kids have you got?" she asked curiously.

"Just the one," Wilf replied with a chuckle, "My daughter. And my granddaughter of course."

"What about the Doctor? Do you know if he has children?"

The elderly human sighed, dropping his gaze to the dust floor beneath his feet and watching the tiny plumes of dust rise up with each step. "I don't know," he replied honestly, "He may have had. I'd not really considered it before you asked him..."

Narrowing her eyes Amy stopped walking forcing the older companion to do the same. "What do you mean, he may have had?" she asked suspiciously.

Heaving another sigh and cursing himself for the slip up, the old man turned to face her. He had no intention of lying to the redhead but that didn't mean he had to give away anymore about the Doctor either and she was just going to have to accept that. "Amy I can't..." he said softly, sending a sad smile her way, "They aren't my secrets to tell." His fellow companion opened her mouth to say something but Wilf held up a hand and she shut it again with an irritable snap. "Just hear an old man out," he continued, "There's a lot more to our Doctor than just a mad traveller with a time traveling box. He's been through the wars, that one, seen things we couldn't begin to imagine and it's not my place to go spreadin' those secrets around. He'll let us in when he's ready..."

The redhead frowned slightly. "Seems as though he's already let you in," she pointed out.

"He didn't have much of a choice, I'm afraid," the old man replied, sadness tainting his voice as memories of six billion Masters, and the Time Lords' return, and the former Doctor (all spiky hair and brown pinstriped suit) crumpled on the floor of the Naismiths' mansion flooded his mind, "The situation was very much out of his control..."

Amy nodded, though she still didn't look entirely convinced as she began moving forwards once more. Before she got the chance to say anything more on the subject, however, a voice range out from the shadows of a nearby metal barrel.

"You're following me." The young girl, Mandy, who they'd been sent to find stepped towards the pair with a surprising air of calmness for someone who had been sobbing silently not long before, "Saw you watching me at the marketplace."

To her credit, the redhead didn't jump as her elderly companion did at the sudden interruption, and held out the wallet calmly instead. "You dropped this."

"Yeah," Mandy replied in that obvious tone of voice that only children and young teenagers could manage as she snatched back the wallet, "When your friend kept bumping into me." And with that she marched off down the corridor leaving a confused Amy and amused Wilfred in her wake.

"We should probably go after her," the elderly man suggested with a smile.

The redhead shook herself quickly and nodded. "Right."

They didn't have to walk far before they came upon the girl once more, standing in front of a fold out metal fence, complete with a Keep Out sign, which surrounded a red and white tent in the middle of the corridor and fingering her wallet nervously.

"What's that?" Amy asked, stopping beside the child and gesturing towards the tent.

"There's a hole," Mandy replied simply, "We have to go back."

"A what?" the redhead blinked, "A hole?"

"Are you stupid?" came the child's exasperated reply, "There's a hole in the road. We can't go that way. There's a travel pipe down by the airlocks, if you've got stamps. What are you doing?"

Amy had moved away from the others sometime during the girl's speech and towards the striped tent, pushing the fence out of the way to gain access. "Oh, don't mind me," she grinned at both Mandy and Wilf, "Never could resist a Keep Out sign. What's through there? What's so scary about a hole?" she flopped down on the dusty floor in front of a padlock Wilf hadn't noticed before which fastened the tent's door closed, "Something under the road..?"

Mandy, for her part, was looking incredibly nervous, glancing over her shoulder time and aging towards the same smiling things the booths that the Doctor had sent them to ask her about. Still, she didn't run, no matter how much she looked as though she wanted to, and answered Amy's question instead. "Nobody knows. We're not supposed to talk about it."

The redhead spun around with a smile that must have persuaded many a man to do her bidding gracing her face. "About what?" she asked persuasively.

The girl merely blinked. "Below."

Amy made a face. "And because you're not supposed to, you don't?" she asked, very nearly rolling her eyes as she produced a hairpin from... somewhere, honestly Wilf didn't see where, and waved it at the two other humans before beginning to pick the lock, "Watch and learn."

"You sound Scottish," said Mandy after a moment of watching the other girl work, and Wilf could see traces of confusion on her face.

"I am Scottish," came the distracted reply, "What's wrong with that? Scotland's got to be here somewhere..."

The child shook her head in the negative. "No. They wanted their own ship."

"Hmm," Amy smiled, her eyes never leaving the lock, "Good for them. Nothing changes."

"So, how did you get here?" Mandy asked, frowning.

"Oh, just passing through, you know, with a guy."

"Your boyfriend?"

Wilfred chuckled softly at the thought but quickly fell silent as he noticed that his fellow companion had frozen at the younger girl's question.

"Oh..." she murmured softly.

"What?" Mandy asked, her face betraying nothing but childish curiosity.

"Amy?" Wilf added, his face, by contrast, lined with nothing but concern.

"Nothing. It's nothing," the redhead replied quickly, tossing a quick glance their way, "It's just, I'm getting married. Funny how things slip your mind."

"Married!?" both Mandy and Wilfred cried in unison.

"Yeah, shut up, married," Amy's voice had an undertone of panic to it, "Really, actually married. Almost definitely."

"It's Rory, isn't it?" Wilfred asked gently, hoping to ease some of her panic while at the same time figure out what was going on. The young man had only just been her boyfriend when he'd left Leadworth...

A soft smile crept onto the young woman's face. "Yeah. Rory," she sighed.

The old man frowned. "Forgive me if I'm wrong but wasn't he just your 'kind of boyfriend' last I saw him?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "That was two years ago, Wilf," she explained, "The Doctor was late. Again."

"Of course he was..."

Mandy, who had been watching the exchange with understandable confusion, chose that moment to reengage in the conversation. "When ya gettin' married then?" she asked.

Turning back to the locked she had been working on, Amy sighed. "Well, it's kind of weird. A long time ago tomorrow morning. I wonder what I did?" The locked clicked open at last. "Hey, hey. Result! Coming?"

"No!" said Mandy sharply.

"Suit yourself," Amy shrugged, before turning to her fellow companion, "Wilf? Coming?"

"Right behind," the old man grinned as he made his way up to the tent and bent down next to her as best his creaking joints would allow.

"Stop!" Mandy cried out from behind them, "You mustn't do that!"

The fear in the child's voice gave Wilfred pause and he turned back to face her and gave a reassuring smile. "It'll be alright," he assured her before following Amy into the tent on his hands and knees.

The sight that met him was not what he expected, though that in itself didn't surprise him all that much. Amy was standing just inside the doorway, a wind-up torch clutched in her hands. The old man's gaze followed the beam of light from its source out to a huge, dark red tentacle which was protruding upwards from a hold in the floor and weaving back a forth almost like seaweed in the ocean's currents.

"Oh, my God," Amy whispered, staring at it in awe, "That's weird. That's –"

But exactly what it was she never got the chance to say. At that moment the tentacle lashed out, its clawed tip coming far too close for comfort as the two humans scrambled backwards out of the tent only to find themselves surrounded by a group of men in matching black robes and hoods. Two of the men thrust they hands forwards towards their captives' faces without a word, a puff of gas emerging from their respective rings. The last thing Wilf saw before the world went black was Amy collapsing beside him.


	11. The Belly of The Beast

_**Author's Note:**_

_Well here we are, another chapter. I'm sorry to say that it's a rather short one, once again, but on the plus side that means you only have to wait a week for it! Honestly, I'd meant to finish 'The Beast Below' in this chapter but I just don't have time to do any more writing at the moment so I figured that instead of making you wait, I'd just break it up and post what I have. Also on the plus side, there's plot! Yay! On the downside, not the greatest ending (in my humble opinion) but it's the best I can do unless you all want to wait a lot longer... _

_As for update time... Not sure. Same excuses as last chapter. Sorry. No more than two weeks though, as usual. _

_Alright, I think that's everything. As always, please feel free to point out anything you like, don't like, don't understand, wonder or think about the story! I'll do my best to reply to all of you. All reviews are good reviews, after all! _

_**Happy Reading**_

* * *

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_The Belly of The Beast_

_They were walking today, grass pickling the bottoms of their bare feet with every step, their long folds of clothing rustling gently in the breeze. Sunlight shone down upon them, lighting the world with its orange glow, and silence stretched around them for miles save for his companion's gently tapping fingers. Everything was calm. Everything was peaceful. _

_The shadow was there, of course, it always was, but neither walker paid it any mind. _

_Sometimes, during their darker meetings, Wilfred had attempted to get a look at the darkened figure but each time it faded away. Most things did, here. Even his companion, when he tried to study him, seemed just out of focus. Some things about him he was able to hold on to, others faded away like the shadow. Today his mind seemed able to retain only his companion's receding hairline and bowtie..._

_They came to a halt together, when the gentle hill they'd been climbing finally evened out, and stared out over the impossible scenery below. The shadow hovered behind them, silent but ever present. His companion's fingers held their rhythmic beat against his thighs. And the world shone still more brightly around them._

"_It's coming, old man, the time is coming..."_

Wilfred awoke with a start, sitting up quickly only to lie back again in the chair in which he found himself as the world swam around him and his head pounded. Another bloody dream. Ever since the fiasco last Christmas his sleeping hours had played host to that same strange, foggy companion and he hadn't the faintest idea who or what he was or what the dreams meant. Heaving a sigh and rubbing one hand over his face, the old man forced himself to focus on the here and now. He remembered talking with the child, crawling into a tent, being attacked by a tentacle and the hooded men but then… Nothing…

Shaking his head in an attempt to dislodge the cobwebs still dulling his sense he sat up once more, more slowly this time, and looked around carefully. He was in a cubicle of some kind, made up of the same dingy metal walls as the rest of the ship, and seated in the sole piece of furniture in the room which happened to be a simple padded chair. In front of him was some sort of computer with four small screens and only three buttons available for him to push – Protest, Record and Forget – while off to one side sat the same strange smiling thing in a booth that they had seen all over the ship... They. Amy! Pushing himself into a more upright position the old man looked around more frantically but could see no trace of his red haired companion, nor anyone else for that matter. He was entirely alone, just him and that strange smiling thing...

"Welcome to voting cubicle three thirty C," came a robotic voice suddenly and Wilf nearly jumped out of his skin. The computer, it seemed, was playing back some kind of audio recording. "Please leave this installation as you would wish to find it. The United Kingdom recognises the right to know of all its citizens. A presentation concerning the history of Starship UK will begin shortly. Your identity is being verified on our electoral roll." There was a brief pause before a result popped up on one of the computer screens before him. "Name, Wilfred Fredrick Mott. Age, thirteen hundred and sixty five."

Wilf whistled softly. "Blimey... Got on a bit, haven't I?" he chuckled.

Unsurprisingly, the computer did not respond. "Marital status," it continued in its computerized monotone, "Windowed. Children, Silvia Irene Noble. Daughter. Deceased. Marital status, widowed. Grandchildren, Donna Elizabeth Noble. Granddaughter. Age," there was a pause, as though the computer was searching through its information, "Unavailable," it said at last, "Marital status," it paused again, even longer than before, until, "Unknown."

The old man raised one eyebrow questioningly but before he had the chance to really contemplate the computer's words another image – that of an older man with white hair and matching beard – flashed up on the screen.

"You are here because you want to know the truth about this starship," the man on the screen began, "And I am talking to you because you're entitled to know. When this presentation has finished, you will have a choice. You may either protest, or forget. If you choose to protest, understand this. If just one percent of the population of this ship do likewise, the programme will be discontinued with consequences for you all. If you choose to accept the situation, and we hope that you will, then press the Forget button. All the information I'm about to give you will be erased from your memory. You will continue to enjoy the safety and amenities of Starship UK, unburdened by the knowledge of what has been done to save you. Here then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people. May God have mercy on our souls."

Wilf narrowed his eyes. "What…" he began, but the presentation had already begun.

Images flashed across the screen before him – the sun burning too hot, children crying, a space ship that could never fly and a whale, a beautiful, lonely Starwhale – all of them faster than his eyes could process. But it didn't seem to matter that he couldn't actually make out the pictures for the information somehow seemed to download directly into his head. They'd trapped that creature, that poor innocent creature. They'd tortured it. They were still torturing it! In the name of the survival of the British people yes, but all the same... And then, just as suddenly as the presentation started, it was finished and silence slammed into the old man from all sides.

_If you choose to protest, understand this. If just one percent of the population of this ship do likewise, the programme will be discontinued with consequences for you all._

The man's words floated around Wilfred's head as he sat, his mind reeling. To protest would mean potentially damning this ship and its millions of inhabitants to their death but to forget would be just as bad... "Bloody hell," he said abruptly, the decision suddenly made, "I'm not part of this ship's population!" And with that he reached out and brought his hand down firmly upon the Protest button forcefully.

Silence followed his action for only a moment before a soft ticking noise drew the old man's attention towards the smiling thing in the booth off to one side. The thing's head was turning slowly, the smiling face spinning away to be replaced by one snarling with fury. Wilf took a step back instinctively, staring around for any means of escape but nothing presented itself, unless, of course, you count the floor sliding open beneath his feet to reveal the angry red inner workings of the ship. And, Wilfred decided as the last of his footing slide away and he plummeted downwards, this really didn't count as escaping.

* * *

Barely a minute and a far less exciting fall than the one he'd experienced in the TARDIS later, the elderly human found himself laying in a warm pit of chunky slime. At least, he really hoped it was just chunky slime, for the alternatives were far less pleasant... He stood up slowly, wiping as much of the unidentifiable stuff off him as he could and – wait, was that a banana? Wilf stared at the partially decomposed fruit he'd just removed from his jumper for a moment, then gazed around the warm, soft walled pit in which he found himself once more...

"Oh blimey..." he whispered.

The Starwhale. The creature from the presentation. The one the British people had imprisoned and tortured to save their own lives. He was inside the Starwhale's mouth. His suspicion was confirmed a second later when the floor of the pit began to lift up beneath him.

"Whoa ho, no, no, no!" Wilfred cried out, swinging his arms about wildly in an attempt to stay on his feet, "Hold on now, big fella! Don't swallow! I know what you are! I chose to protest, I couldn't forget any of it if I tried! You're the Starwhale, you're a living, breathing, thinking, feeling creature and the last of your kind. I can help you, my friends and I, we can help, just please don't swallow!"

The giant alien's tongue stilled at his words, as though it was listening closely, but no move was made to lower it again.

Taking a deep breath and drawing what courage he could from the sudden lack of movement, Wilf forged on. "What's been done to you," he continued, "It's not right. Let us help you." But still the tongue did not lower and the old man cast around quickly for something else to say. "My friend," he tried, "He's the last of his kind too and I've seen how it hurts him. I can't imagine what living with that knowledge is like. And that on top of what these people are doing to you..." He sighed sadly, "Please, just let us help you."

There was silence for a moment before, at long last, the Starwhale slowly lowered its massive tongue. Steadying himself as the tongue settled back into its natural resting place Wilf watched as the creature opened its jaws wide, the equally massive rows of teeth which he had not noticed before splitting open to reveal another corridor just beyond them.

"Thank you," the old man whispered softly, "You won't regret this." And with that he ran as best he could through the slime out of the creature's mouth.

Wilf may have thought that the upper levels of the ship were dirty and grimy but they had nothing on the corridor in which he now found himself. The filthy metal walls were broken up only by a single door before him (adorned with only a Forget button) and two of the smiling fellows in the booths off to one side. One way out then. He'd have to forget. Except that was never going to happen. He made his way over to the door and ran his hands over its surface, searching for any other way to open it but with no success. Still, the action did succeed in causing the Smilers to begin ticking away in their booths as a frowning face too the place of their smiling ones.

"Oh you fellas don't like that, eh?" the old man asked, frowning in his own right as he glared at the things in their little booths, "Well too bad, I say. I shan't be forgetting any time soon!"

The faces turned again at his words, changing from frowning to downright furious. It really was oddly intimidating, if he was being honest. But the thing didn't stop there, for next thing Wilf knew the front of both the booths had swung open and the now-furious Smilers stood up and began making their way towards him in a decidedly robotic way. Now properly scared the elderly man took a step backwards only to find his back pressed against the metal door while the things continued to bare down on him. There was nowhere to go.

* * *

Ten minutes later and Wilfred was still trying to figure out exactly why he was still alive. One minute the Smilers were advancing on him and the next they'd stopped dead, stood motionless for a beat then reached out and grabbed him roughly, pinning his arms to his side. Perhaps capturing him had been their plan all along but somehow the elderly human doubted that. Still, regardless of their initial intention the point was that he was somehow alive, sandwiched in between the two robed figures as they watched a strange hanging machine fire bolts of energy at what looked suspiciously like part of a giant brain.

The elderly man could take an educated guess at whose brain it was but that would mean acknowledging the fact that he was standing there watching the torture he'd just protested against and he couldn't bring himself to do that. Instead he focused on studying the room he'd been all but dragged to by the robed Smilers, if only to distract himself. It was a dungeon; really there was no other way of describing it. It was dark and dank and the metallic clang of those same clawed tentacles he and Amy had seen earlier beating against the grating which kept them at bay rang out every few seconds. Tentacles which were part of the Starwhale who was fighting to get free...

Wilf set his jaw. He had promised the creature that he would help it and by God, he meant it. "Hello!" he called out, his voice reverberating around the room, "Someone's got to be runnin' this monstrosity, come out here where I can see ya!"

And come out they did. Another robed man, about the same age as Wilfred himself, with round glasses and grey hair approached the brain from the opposite side, his face the picture of calm detachment. "Wilfred Mott," he said simply, nodding towards the captive man, "My name is Hawthorne. I ask for your patience for a moment longer, your friends will be joining us shortly."

Worry gnawed its way up Wilf's throat. "What does that mean, they'll be joining us? What did you do to them!?" he demanded.

Hawthorne's expression did not change. "They wanted information regarding the inner workings of Starship UK, they will receive it. You will act as motivation for them to make the right choice."

Motivation? Wilf swallowed thickly. If the manner in which they were 'motivating' the Starwhale was any indication he wasn't sure he would enjoy what was coming next. Before he had a chance to think on the possibilities too long, however, the door to the dungeon creaked open and a robed Smiler entered followed by Amy, Mandy, the Doctor and a pretty black woman Wilfred recognized from the presentation as the current Queen of Britain.

"Wilfred!" Amy shouted the moment she spotted him. She made to run towards him but was stopped roughly by one of the perpetually smiling guards.

"I'm alright, Amy," he shouted back, wishing that he looked more alright and wasn't being forcibly held by two Smilers and covered in alien whale slime.

Still, it seemed that the young redhead took his word for it for she stopped fighting and was released to stand next to the others once more. "Doctor," she asked softly, "Where are we?"

"The lowest point of Starship UK," the Doctor replied in a voice of forced cheer, spinning away from the others with his arms spread wide, "The dungeon."

"Ma'am," Hawthorne spoke up, his voice as monotone as ever.

The Queen turned to him with a look of surprise. "Hawthorne," she replied, moving so they were standing face to face, "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

Before any explaining could occur, however, the Doctor wandered over to them, a frown on his face. "There's children down here," he said, watching as a line of the aforementioned children made their way robotically past them, their arms laden with pieces of technology which Wilf could not recognize, "What's all that about?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," Hawthorne replied simply, watching as the children moved away, "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You and your friend Wilfred are the first adults it's spared. You're all very lucky."

"Yeah, look at us," said the Time Lord sarcastically, "Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky." And with that he was off and moving again, circling around the room until he came to rest on the same side of the brain as Wilfred and talking all the way. "Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."

The Queen, who had moved from Hawthorne's side to stand opposite the Doctor and Wilf and stare down at the brain, made a face. "What's that?" she asked, causing Amy and Mandy to hurry over to see for themselves.

"Well, like I say, it depends on the angle," the Doctor began, the anger tainting his voice causing Wilf to wish for freedom from his robed guards so that he might place a hand on the alien's shoulder to calm him down, "It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly –"

"Or?" the Queen asked.

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator. Starship UK's go faster button."

The dark skinned monarch frowned. "I don't understand."

"Don't you?" the Doctor asked, his voice still much colder than usual, as he circled around to the Queen's side, "Try to. Go on. The spaceship that could never fly. No vibration on deck. This creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading, it's what you have instead of an engine! And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving," He paused for breath, staring around at all of them with anger swirling in his eyes. "Tell you what," he said at last, running over to the grating covering one of the Starwhale's tentacles and pulling it aside so that the clawed appendage rose up into the dungeon, "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." And with that he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the tentacle causing a terrible screaming to erupt all around them.


End file.
